


The Fox That Found Himself

by ExyDownUnder



Series: All For the Game [3]
Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Twins, Andrew Minyard Has Feelings, Angst, Exy (All For The Game), F/F, Gay, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, M/M, Multi, Neil Josten has a brother, Other, Palmetto State University Foxes, Panic Attacks, quarantine fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-22
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-17 21:54:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 4
Words: 34,915
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29107386
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ExyDownUnder/pseuds/ExyDownUnder
Summary: Both Kit and Neil are out of time. Kit came to PSU knowing that he and his brother wouldnʻt last the year, but with their deaths right in front of them they both have more reasons to stay alive then ever.Befriending the Foxes was something that couldnʻt be avoided. But getting involved with two of them is unthinkable. Both Kit and Neil should have known better to get that close with anything this close to the end.The Foxes had claimed their hold on Kit and Neil, both brothers have promises to keep and enough willpower to outrun Riko a little longer. But Riko isnʻt the only one that they need to keep their eyes on. The truth might get them killed- but it might also be the one shot at ending thier planned year alive.The final!
Relationships: Andrew Minyard/Original Male Character(s), Kevin Day/Andrew Minyard, Kevin Day/Neil Josten, Kevin Day/Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard, Kevin Day/Original Male Character(s), Minor or Background Relationship(s), Neil Josten & Original Male Character(s), Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard
Series: All For the Game [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1782850
Comments: 7
Kudos: 13





	1. Chapter 1: We Came Back

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kit and Neil see the Foxes for the first time after their time in Evermore

Even after being at Palmetto State University, spending most of his time practicing at the largest Exy stadium in the United States and having traveled to overseas stadiums, nothing will stop Kit from taking a moment every time he stepped foot into the Foxhole Court. Kit was sitting cross legged next to Neil, throwing a ball that he found at the wall across from him. He couldnʻt help but hold his breath and look at the stadium. Everything just felt right being here, and seeing the spring championship banners just cemented further that both Kit and Neil were at home here. The spring championship banners were hanging up in numerical order. There was one for each of the Foxes, including the late Seth Gordon. They werenʻt up before the Foxes split up for Christmas break and both Neil and Kit wondered how Allison would react when she was them up.

“Have you two forgotten how to stand?”

Kit jumped a little bit as he caught the ball before turning to look at their coach. Neil had left the court door open behind them, and now David Wymack stood in the doorway. Kit didnʻt know how long they had been there, but he doubted that it was long enough for Wymack to finish his paperwork. Either Wymack didnʻt trust Neil and Kit to keep their promises of not training until they were healed or both of them lost track of time again. Kit hoped that it was the former.

Having come back to a normal schedule after spending Christmas break with the Ravens, and their sixteen-hour days during the holidays. Kit had lived with a partly messed up schedule for years, but jumping right back into the sixteen hour days messed him up a bit more than he thought. Kit was still waking up at odd hours, feeling an itch to get up and train and he knew that Neil was dealing with the same problem as well. Even after two days back in South Carolina hasnʻt helped too much. Their classes were meant to start on Thursday, and the spring season kicked off the week after. Wymack was sure that having a normal routine again would help. Kit didnʻt really know what they meant but he hoped that it would help Neil. 

“Itʻs time to go,” Wymack said. 

That was enough for Kit to get up and ignore the dull pain in his battered limbs, pulling Neil to his feet, ignoring numbing pain in his shoulder. Both Neil and Kit ignored and pushed the pain away with ease and familiarity, Neil fought off the urge to work out his shoulder and Kit refused to limp because of his bruised knee as they crossed the court to Wymack. Neither of them missed the critical once-over Wymack gave them but chose to not mention it. 

“Have they landed?” Neil asked once they were close enough.

“Weʻll the two of you would know if you answered your phones.”

Kit used his free hand to flip open his phone, pressing a few buttons when it closed again when the screen didnʻt turn on. “I donʻt think that I charged it.”

“I must have forgotten to charge it,” Neil said, showing Wymack the black screen.

“Must have,” Wymack said, not at all filled by the brothers.

He was right to be suspicious; both Neil and Kit agreed to let their phones die on purpose. Before going to sleep on New Yearʻs they both shut their phones off and left them unplugged. Neither of them could bring themselves to read the texts from their teammates had sent them over the break. They knew that they couldnʻt avoid them forever, but none of them could come up with a good explanation for their actions over the holidays. The ugly injuries were an expected consequence of facing Riko. The tattoo on their cheeks were going to take a lot more work to justify, Kitʻs fear was trying to explain why he had a retired Ravenʻs number on his cheek. What both Neil and Kit couldnʻt get around is what Riko did to their appearances.

After four years of growing his hair out, dyed hair and coloured contacts, both Neil and Kit had their natural colour back. With auburn hair and bright blue eyes, Neil was the splitting image of their murderous father. While Kitʻs hair was the same shade of auburn his eyes were more of a bright green then blue, he was almost the splitting image of their father besides a few scars and differences, but he was now the teen that he thought that he killed years ago. Kit had seen a few of the questioning looks that Wymack sent him for his looks, and a few people doing double takes as they walked past the stadium.

Kit couldnʻt look at Neil without remembering every time their father held a knife to him. Neil always had to do a double take when he saw his brother, thinking for a split second that he was their father but realized the small differences but strong. Both Neil and Kit spoke to each other about wanting to dye their hair a few shades darker, knowing that it would help them breathe a little easier, but Riko made it clear what he would do to the Foxes if either of them changed their looks.

“Theyʻre at baggage claim,” Wymack said. “We need to talk.”

Kit stayed by Neil as he bolted the court door behind them and followed Wymack to the locker room. Wymack cut the stadium lights behind them and both Neil and Kit looked back as the Foxhole Court descended into the darkness. Kit stilled as he stared into the darkness. For a minute he felt like he was back at the Nest, enduring all of the pain and malevolence that came along with the darkness. Kit never really liked the dark, but after being back at Evermore after four years made him feel suffocated by the emptiness and crushed by the hatred that threatened to tear him apart again. 

The jangle of keys made Kitʻs heart speed up but seeing Neil move and look at him, helped pull Kit from a dangerous edge. Wymack had gone into the locker room ahead of them and was unlocking his office door. Although they were the only three here - except for the security guard making obligatory rounds somewhere- Wymack had locked the door to his office in his short absence.

Both Neil and Kit had been in there enough times to know that Wymack didnʻt keep anything particularly valuable on his shelves. The only things of importance in there were the brothersʻ duffels, which they tucked into the corner before heading out to the court. On Neil and Kitʻs first days in South Carolina Neil asked Wymack to protect their things, and seven months later Wymack was still keeping that promise. It was almost enough to distract the brotherʻs from their thoughts about Riko.

Wymack stepped aside and gestured for Neil and Kit to help themselves. In the short time that it took for Neil and Kit to grab their bags and sling the straps over their shoulders, Wymack disappeared. They found him in the lounge, sitting on the entertainment center to one side of the tv. Kit followed behind Neil to stand in front of Wymack.

“Kevin called me yesterday moring when he couldnʻt get a hold of either of you,” Wymack said. “He wanted to make sure that you both were okay. Apparently he knew all along where you two were.”

Kit froze up a little and looked at Neil. There was no point in lying, not now. “Yes,” Neil and Kit said in unison.

“I made him tell the others,” Wymack said, and Kitʻs stomach dropped. Kit opened his mouth to try and protest, but Wymack held up his hand and kept going. “They needed to know what they were coming back to - for the both of you. Think for a moment how they would react if they came back to this with no warning. You both flounder when they call you ʻfriendsʻ; youʻd probably have a psychotic break when they freaked out over you.”

Kit looked down in shame, he wanted to argue but he knew that it was the truth. “We were figuring something out,” Neil said unconvincingly.

“The both of you were stalling,” Wymack accused, “so I did it for you. I told them that you two looked like youʻve gone six rounds with a Sasquatch and said that neither of you probably wouldnʻt want to talk about it. They promised not to smother you, but I donʻt think that they will be keeping that promise when they see you two close up. This, though, I didnʻt tell them about.” He gestured vaguely at his own face. 

Kitʻs hand went up to his hair and gave it a tug. As much as he liked his hair short, he didnʻt feel like he could get away with claiming he only looked like ʻthe missing Exy prodigyʻ when he was younger. So all he could reply on was the fact that they all believed him when he said that.

“I donʻt know why Riko did what he did but Iʻll said for my answers,” Wymack said, giving Kit another once over, he didnʻt tell the others how much Kit looked like Nicholas. It only took him a little bit to see the differences between Neil and Kit with their looks, they might have been twins but there were some obvious facial differences between the two of them. “Anything else you tell them is on the two of you.”

Kit nodded, feeling some weight being taken off of his shoulders. As much as he wanted to see the Foxes, Kit didnʻt feel right about it, he didnʻt want to have to deal with them mentioning his looks. He didnʻt want them comparing him to the dead kid. He just wanted to be Kit Josten for as long as he could.

“I meant to Columbia,” Wymack said, catching Kitʻs attention. 

Andrew was being released today. Kit thought that it would be best if he stayed behind, knowing that there wasnʻt enough room in the car, if both him and Neil werenʻt beaten up, he would go. This would be the first time that any of the Foxes had seen Andrew in seven weeks and about three years since he had been sober. Only Nicky and Aaron knew what Andrew was like stone-cold sober. Kit had a slight fear that Andrew wouldnʻt take it too well to know that both he and Neil broke their promise to stay by Kevinʻs side. 

“Weʻll be fine,” Neil said.

“Theyʻll be okay, I trust Neil,” Kit said, a frown pulling at his lips. Wymack raised an eyebrow at Kit, he thought with everything that just happened Kit would want to stay with Neil. “I canʻt go, not enough room, weʻre both injured,” Kit explained.

“Well, if not, Addy will be back in town tomorrow to patch you up.” Wymack checked his watch and slid off his spot on the entertainment center. “Letʻs get going, then.”

It was a short drive to the athleteʻs dormitory. The parking lot behind Fox Tower was mostly cleared out, but a couple of the Foxesʻ cars were still there. Supposedly security guards made rounds to make sure that the cars didnʻt get broken into in their absence, but Neil still had Wymack pull up next to Andrewʻs car. Kit was the one to give the car a once over, checking the doors, the windows and the body to make sure that there was no damage or scratched. He checked the tires with a kick, making sure that they didnʻt lose too much air pressure and then gave Neil a thumbs up. Wymack waited for Neil and Kit to be done.

“Do I need to stay?” Wymack asked.

“Weʻll be fine,” Kit said, moving his duffel to his other shoulder. 

“Iʻll have Kevin call you once weʻve got Andrew,” Neil said.

“Charge your phone and call me yourself,” Wymack said. “Good luck.”

He pulled away, and Neil and Kit made their way up to their dorm. The hallways smelled faintly of air freshener and cleaners; a cleaner had been up here to give the halls a good clean. Their room was on the third flood, the furthest of the Foxesʻ three rooms from the stairs. Neil let them in and Kit locked the door behind them, Neil made a slow lap around the dorm and Kit went straight to their room. Nothing of theirs had been touched, so Kit decided to plug his phone in and unpack his duffel. Kit watched as Neil pulled out a packet of cigarettes, offering one to Kit. Kit just shook his head and grabbed his racquet and went out into the lounge room.

Kit was in the lounge room, stretching out his shoulder and tossing his racquet around to make sure that his shoulders and wrists were okay. Kit froze up at the sound of the door opening.

“Neil?” It was Matt. 

Kit hoped that he had a neutral expression on his face as he turned around to look at Matt. “It’s Kit,” he said, letting out a chuckle. 

Matt froze in his spot, leaning forward a bit. “Jesus Christ, Kit.”

“It’s really not that as bad as it looks, you should see the other guy,” Kit said.

“Don’t. Just, don’t.” Matt said. Taking in a deep breath before looking around the room for Neil. “Where’s Neil?”

“Oh, the mummie is in the bedroom,” Kit joked a little, laughing only to stop seeing the glare that Matt was giving him. 

Matt put his suitcase down by the lounge and headed down the hall to go and see Neil. Kit sighed and laid the stick down on the couch, so he could scratch at the tape on his shoulder. Not even half a minute later Matt went storming out of the dorm, Kit watched as he shut the door behind him, almost as soon as the door closed there was a heavy sound of a body hitting a wall. Matt’s furious tone could be heard as he lashed out at someone, but the walls were just thick enough to hide his words. After a moment, Neil made his way out to the living room, not really wanting to be up but knew that he had all afternoon when they got back to distance and recharge himself from everything.

Both of the brothers froze up a little bit when they saw each other, they thought that they were someone else. A moment later Matt rejoined them and closed the door firmly behind himself. He made a visible effort to calm himself down, but it was still an edge in his voice when he spoke. “Did Coach already yell at the two of you?”

“Loudly and at length,” Kit hesitated, he never liked being yelled at so having Wymack yell at both him and Neil hurt him a bit.

“It didn’t do any good. Neither of us are sorry, and I know Kit will agree with me when I say that we would do it again.” Neil said looking at his brother, who nodded in agreement.

“Matt,” Kit said when Matt opened his mouth in protest. “The Foxes are all we have. You have no right to tell us that we were wrong for making the only call that we could.”

Matt stared at the two of them for an endless minute, then said, “I want to break his face in six places. If you ever comes within thousand yards of either of you again-”

“No, he has to,” Neil said, cutting Matt off. “We’re going to play the Ravens in the finals.”

Matt shook his head and grabbed his suitcase. Both Neil and Kit stepped to the side to let him pass, but Matt cast one look at each of their faces on his way past. Surprise took the edge off his outrage. Neither Neil or Kit returned his walk but started for the door. Kit had his hand on the door knob when Matt spoke up.

“You know, Coach said not to ask about your eyes,” Matt said. “I’d assumed Riko blackened them.”

It wasn’t really a question, so neither of the brothers answered it. “Neil will be back in a few hours, give me a few minutes,” Kit said before continuing out of the door.

Kevin, Nicky and Aaron were waiting two doors down in front of the bedroom. Nicky was holding three gift bags but dropped all three at Neil and Kit’s approach. Kit looked to Kevin, not wanting to focus on the cousins, he noticed the bruise on Kevin's face. The red stain across half his cheek said another bruise wouldn’t be long informing. It wasn’t the first time Matt hit Kevin and it definitely wouldn’t be the last, but Kit was going to make sure that he spoke to Matt about this. None of this was Kevin‘s fault.

Kit kept eye contact with Kevin. He wanted to go up and hug Kevin, for support, to make sure that all three of them were out of that hell hole. To make sure that Kevin was safe, but neither of them made a move.

Kevin was staring at Kit like he had all of those years ago when he would come to him, all battered and bruised, looking for someone to help hold him together. Kevin felt sick looking at him like this, he honestly thought that he was looking at a ghost of who Kit used to be.

Aaron flicked a look over to Kit and raised an eyebrow at his appearance, seeing now really how much he looked like the missing prodigy. Both him and Neil looked a lot more alike, but one would have to be an idiot to not be able to tell the difference. When Nicky started to reach out to Neil, Kit’s attention snapped away from Kevin to grab Nicky’s wrist. Nicky tensed up, and his wrecked facial expression only got worse then he looked towards Kit.

“Don’t touch him,” Kit warned. 

Nicky pulled his hand away and held them up, showing Kit that he wasn’t going to put a hand on Neil. “Oh, Neil, Kit. You both look awful.” Nicky said, his voice cracking.

“It’ll fade,” Neil said with a shrug. “Most of it anyway. Don’t worry about it.”

“Had worse.” Kit shrugged, flinching a little bit at the pain in his shoulder but chuckled a little bit. “It will mostly fade, so there’s nothing to worry about.”

Nicky’s face somehow got more contorted in pity. “Don’t either of you dare tell me that you are fine. I can’t hear that from either of you today.”

Kit shrugged a little bit at the request. While Kevin was staring at Neil like he was about to kill him and Neil was frozen, Aaron and Nicky were closely looking at Kit, starting to see why people used to mistake him for someone else when he was little.

“Tell me that the Master didn’t approve of this.” Kevin’s French grabbed Kit’s attention.

“I don’t know,” Neil replied in French. Kit was almost certain that the Master didn’t approve of the changes to Neil, but the ones to him were a different story, because he wanted to have his ‘all round player’ back. The last few days in Riko’s hands were painful for both of the brothers, Kit was still trying to fully piece everything together. He remembered running his throat dry, trying to tell Jean to get off of him and the sound of clippers. Kit didn’t know if the Master was there watching it happen.

“Riko said that he would hurt the Foxes if we changed anything back. All we can do at the moment is keep our heads down,” Kit said, his French had gotten faster over the two weeks he was away.

“Keep your heads down,” Kevin echoed. He gestured incredulously at his own face. “Riko called me on Christmas to say that he inked the both of you. How long do you think he’ll let you both hide before he forces you to show it off? The press will be all over this, and the questions won’t stop at your tattoos. He’s trying to get you both found.”

Kit felt a fire start in his lungs as he froze, his throat burning. It took everything that Kit had not to start tearing up. “I did everything in my power to stop him from doing it, Kev. You know that I did, Riko probably told you. He’s wanting us to get found out before our game in the finals, meaning that he thinks that we will be a threat to him. That means something, doesnʻt it?”

“Birdie-”

"Donʻt, Kev, not now," Kit cut him off, being called that in the Nest wasnʻt something that he needed at the moment. The reason that nickname started out was because his father wanted to call him something that would put him down, Riko heard it once and ran with it, using it to remind Kit that he would always be just a helpless little bird that couldnʻt do anything. The only reason Kit put up with Kevin calling him it was because, whenever he or Jean called him that, it meant that he would be able to fly and be free one day. A little ironic seeing that he wouldnʻt be alive for much longer and he had never been free in the first place.

“Weʻll worry about it, Kevin,” Neil said looking between Kevin and Kit. “Weʻll worry about each other. You do what you do best and focus on Exy. Take us to where he doesnʻt think that we belong.”

Kevin frowed his brows, but he didnʻt argue back. Maybe it was because he knew that it was too late; maybe knew that it was pointless. Nicky looked between them as if he was making sure that they were done then scooped his bags up again, and held out to Neil and Kit.

“Belated Christmas presents,” he said, a hint of sadness laced his voice. “No one knew your address in Millport so I figured Iʻd just have to give it to you both in person. Erik helped me pick them out.” At Neil and Kitʻs confused looks, Nicky said, “He flew to New York for a couple of days as a Christmas surprise. Kevinʻs going something for you in there, too, Neil. He wouldnʻt let me wrap it, so itʻs in an ugly plastic bag. Iʻm sorry.”

Nicky jiggled the other gift bag as Neil and Kit grabbed the ones offered to them. “Iʻve got Andrewʻs with me, too. Actually I got the three of you the same thing because you are like the most impossible people in the world to buy for.”

“Iʻm sorry,” Neil said. “We didnʻt get the chance to get anyone anything. We arenʻt used to celebrating Christmas.”

“You mean that you both were too busy getting pulverized to shop,” Aaron said. Nicky looked like he choked on his cousinʻs rudeness, only to cough a bit when Kit muttered a ʻyeah, that's true tooʻ. Aaron flicked Kit a look at the reply but continued on like he didnʻt say anything wrong. “Kevin said that you both went because of Andrew. Is that true?”

Neil flicked Kevin a warning look, while Kit didnʻt take his eyes off of Aaron. “Yes.” 

“Why?” Aaron asked. “He wonʻt be grateful.”

“And he wonʻt be grateful for you killing Drake,” Kit said with a sigh. “It doesnʻt matter. We did what was the right choice, or the only choice. I donʻt care what Andrew thinks.” 

Aaron studied them in silence. He was looking for answers to a question that will remain a mystery. All Kit could do was raise an eyebrow at Aaron until he finally shook his head and looked away. Neil wanted to push for an explanation, but he knew that he had to save his strength for Andrew. Kit looked into the bag, wrapped in orange tissue paper was a dark grey coat. It was small but it was heavy in Kitʻs handsʻ it would keep out the bitter chill that had set in South Carolina. Kit looked over to Neil to see that he had gotten a black version of the coat. 

“Thank you, Nicky,” Kit said, as Nicky grabbed the bag from him and Neil.

“Thank you,” Neil said.

“Neither of you have proper winter clothes,” Nicky said “We should take you two out and expand your wardrobe again, but I figured that we could start with these. You canʻt keep wearing team hoodies and not expect to catch a cold. Do they fit?”

Kit did his best to try and put on the coat, but trying to put on the second sleeve caused his shoulders and side go numb with a hot white pain. Kit hissed a little, wanting to grab his shoulder but instead blinked away any tears.

“Iʻm sorry,” Neil said, his words slurred with pain. Kit flinched at the word but immediately looked over to Neil and dropped the coat onto one shoulder, gently helping to try and pull the coat off of him.

“I donʻt think that either of us can try them on yet,” Kit hissed out, trying to push the pain in his shoulder away. 

“Iʻm sorry,” Nicky said. “I didnʻt- I wasnʻt thinking. Here, here. Let me. Iʻve got it.” Nicky helped Kit ease the coat off of Neilʻs arm and did the same for Kit. “Iʻll hold onto these until you are both better, okay?”

“Sounds good,” Kit said.

“Okay,” Neil replied.

Kit took a step away from Neil and looked at Kevin. Kit knew what was in that plastic bag, it was their folder, well it was mostly Neilʻs. Kit had given Neil a few things at the beginning of the year to keep safe, mostly names and photos and just different articles. Kevin took a step forward and held out a small envelope to Kit, who raised an eyebrow at it but took it. 

“I told you that you could keep them, Kev,” Kit said in Japanese as he peeked inside. The pile of photos felt thicker than what he had given to Kevin two weeks ago. 

“I knew that you would want them back,” Kevin replied over the question that Nicky just asked Neil. “I thought that they were important, thatʻs why you gave them to me. I found a few more.”

Kitʻs lips upturned slightly as he nodded, his eyes starting to get a little blurry, those photos meant so much to him. They helped remind him of a time where everything was good, even if it was just for that split second that the photos were taken. They helped keep him grounded.

“Are we ready to leave?” Neil asked. 

“If youʻre sure that youʻre okay with a drive,” Nicky said. 

“Iʻll see you soon, Kit,” Neil said, turning his attention to his brother.

“Yeah, stay safe Neil,” Kit said in French before turning to Kevin as he was the last one heading down the stairs. “Keep an eye on him, for me? I want to come but I know that I can trust you to make sure he doesnʻt hurt himself for a few hours.”

Kevin nodded before following the others down the stairs. Kit stood there in the hallway for a few minutes, he didnʻt know what to do because his mind was telling him that he needed to go with Neil, to make sure that he was safe but his heart was telling him that he would be okay.

Kit held the envelope in a tight fist before turning back to his dorm room, opening it to see the living room empty. Locking the door behind him, he walked over to the lounge, moving his racquet into this lap before sitting down, trying to keep his knee straight. There was something that felt wrong about being alone even though there was someone in the same dorm room, it just makes people feel a little bit more isolated, unwanted.

“Kit?” Matt said, trying to gain Kitʻs attention. He had just finished unpacking his things and found the red head staring off at the blank tv. Matt frowned a little bit, moving toward him and waving a hand in front of his face, Kit jumped and grabbed Mattʻs hand. “Kit? You there?”

“Yeah?” Kit muttered, letting go of Mattʻs hand once he saw who it was. “Yeah, Iʻm here. Didnʻt mean to worry you.”

Matt frowned and sat down next to Kit, looking over him. “Hey, you know, if you need to talk about anything, Iʻm here and so are the others.”

“Yeah, I know Matt,” Kit said, moving his stick off of his lap, his eyes not leaving the last name that he still hadnʻt covered up, but none of the Foxes ever got close enough to look at it so there was no point putting in the effort. “Iʻm fine, though. Thereʻs no need to worry about me. Iʻll live, I always have and I always will.”

“I told you don’t,” Matt said, looking down at Kit. “I don’t want to hear that you’re fine, or that you’ll be okay. I feel like every time you say that the more and more fake it becomes. You can’t keep lying to yourself.”

Kit raised an eyebrow before he unclenched his fist from around the envelope. “When I say those things, it means it’s real. I know that I am going to be okay, with Neil though, I don’t know. But what I do know is that I need to stay strong for him.” Kit couldn’t tell Matt that he had to pretend that he was fine so he could trick himself into thinking that he was. Kit had to prove to himself that he was fine even though he was a slight breeze away from shattering.

Matt sat there for a moment before frowning. “You can’t go around saying all of these things when you know that you won’t be okay.”

Kit frowned a little bit, twisting the envelope in his bruised hands. “You know, you shouldn’t have gone off and punched Kevin.”

“What, yes I did, he let you and Neil go there. He knew and didn’t try to sto-”

“I’m going to stop you right there Matt,” Kit’s grip tightened on the photos, these were something that helped him remember the good times that he and Kevin had, and helped him remember the times Kevin was there for him. “He wasn’t going to let us go, he didn’t want us to go. But he knew the risks of what would happen if we didn’t. Even if there was a way for him to stop Neil and I, we would’ve gone anyway. The Foxes are all that we have. We made our choices and we suffered the consequences. You also need to think about the consequences for punching Kevin in the first place, not one, but twice. Andrew isn’t going to take that lightly, you really should have thought before you went around punching Kevin, because now you will have Andrew seeking you out.”

Matt froze at Kit’s words, he didn’t know if what he was saying was true but it seemed to be. “I- look. I was mad at Kevin for not telling us. But you have to look at it from our point of view, you and Neil don’t text or contact us for the whole break only to be told on one of the last days that you spent your two week break in a literal cult? And for what? A monster that won’t give a shit about what you went through?” Matt ignored the part about Andrew, hoping that he wouldnʻt actually care what happened to Kevin now that he was off of his medication.

“Matt, stop,” Kit warned. He didn’t want to hear Matt talking about Andrew like that. Calling him a monster when he wasn’t, Kevin knew that, Neil knew that. “I don’t care what he thinks. I made the right choice by me, by Neil and by the team. I’ll be back and playing as soon as my bruising goes down and everything feels like it is in the right place. I will not be made to think that my choices are wrong.” Kit sighed and shook his head. “Look, I’m not in the mood to talk about this anymore. But if I could have one favour?”

“Yeah?”

“Can I borrow your phone? I need to make a call and mine isn’t charged, if there’s any extra costs, I’ll pay for it.”

Matt was a little taken aback by the request, not being able to recall any time Kit had made a call, but nodded and fished his phone out of his pocket. “Sure.”

Kit nodded to Matt and grunted a bit as he stood up, shoving the envelope in his pant pocket and picking up his Exy racquet. “Cheers,” Kit said as he grabbed the phone with his free hand and limped down to the bedroom. Matt watched him closely as he closed the bedroom door behind him, he turned his attention back to the Tv as he turned it on.

Kit sat down on Neil’s bed and dialed an overseas number. As it rang he opened the envelope and looked through the photos, only a couple were ones that he had never seen before.

“Who’s this?” A tired voice answered.

“Hey, Adam..” Kit smiled as he pushed his back against the wall, putting the photos under Neilʻs pillow.

“Kit? Are you okay? It’s not like you to call unless something happened,” Adam said, now finally sounding fully awake.

“I went back.”

Those words caused Adam to choke on something. “You did what? Are you still there? I swear I’ll come over and get yo-”

“Adam, rambling,” Kit cut him off before sighing and wrapping his free arm around him. “I’m not there anymore. He- he tried to make us sign with them. I- I didn’t, and neither did Neil. But.. but..”

“Hey, deep breaths Kit,” Adam said, hearing the shallow breaths on the other end of the line. “You are out of there, and you are okay. Right? That’s all that matters.”

“I- shit happened before that.” Kit chuckled out. “Thanksgiving was a mess, now you wonder why we never celebrate it. But- I- I wish you had been here…” Kit muttered out, painfully moving his knees up to his chest. 

“Kit? What happened? If you donʻt mind telling me, I mean, I saw online what happened to your teammate- oh..” Adam muttered to himself, he read up on the news knowing that there was someone else in that room but no one talked about it. “Kevin was there for you right?”

“Yeah.. But, in the Nest. I wasnʻt even allowed to talk to Jean…” Kit laughed out, his heart was aching saying this out loud. He never wanted to talk about anything that happened but talking to Adam everything just came out. “He marked us. He wants us found..” Kit could feel his body start to shake, his breath becoming shallower. “I couldnʻt stop him from hurting Neil.. Or Jean..”

“Hey, hey. Kit, listen to me,” Adam said, trying to keep Kitʻs focus. “You arenʻt there anymore. You are safe, Neil is safe. You have him and Kevin now, and me. But Iʻm not there- that's besides the point,” Adam cut himself off before taking a deep breath. “Listen to my voice-”

Kitʻs brain disconnected from the conversation. His body was trembling against the wall as he stared off. He couldnʻt help but think about what happened, a few of those fuzzy memories finally coming clear in his memories. The yelling, the screaming, the begging, the pain. Everything felt overwhelming, his lungs felt like they were on fire, phantom pains found their way across his body. He dropped the phone and curled up into himself, his throat and lungs felt like they were on fire. Tears pricked at his eyes as he clenched his fingers into his hair. Everything felt wrong, he couldnʻt hear anything other than the blood pumping through his ears.

Matt was coming out of the bathroom when he heard a muffled voice yelling something, he put his ear up to the door before knocking lightly. He got no response. He knocked again and only got a yelp back. Matt opened the door to see Kit sitting against the wall with his knees to his chest, his hands gripping onto his hair tightly, he was shaking. Matt looked to his phone that was sitting by Kitʻs foot, he was still on a call.

Matt up the phone up to his ear. “Who is this? What did you do to Kit?” Matt crouched down to get to where eye level would be.

“Is Kit okay? We were just talkin, I didnʻt do nothin.” Matt didnʻt know who it was but they didnʻt sound American.

Matt pulled the phone away from his ear and put a hand on Kitʻs forearm, only to have him freeze up and his breathing got shallower. “Kit? Hey, itʻs just me. Matt.”

“Oi!” Adam yelled, making Matt put the phone back to his ear. “Heʻs out of it, right?” He waited for Matt to hum before sighing. “Shit. Heʻs havin a panic attack. Elijah, that's his middle name, it helps him. Just try and get his breathin steady, he sounds like he’s about to break somethin.”

Matt looked at the phone before looking at Kit again. “Hey, Elijah. Do you know where you are?”

Kit didn’t say anything, he didn’t go to move. Matt reached out and grabbed Kit’s hand softly, trying to pry it out of his hair before he ripped any of it out. Matt felt Kit’s hand relax a little bit but his breathing started to speed up. Once he had his hand free, Matt leaned forward and put it on his chest, something that he learnt a few years ago to help someone try and copy their breathing.

“I need you to take a deep breath, okay? Follow how I’m breathing,” Matt said, taking a deep breath in as he counted to four. He counted to eight on his breath out.

After a few minutes he could hear that Kit’s breaths were starting to even out. Matt let go of his hand and tapped his shoulder lightly, trying to get him to get his head out of his knees. Kit slowly lifted his head up but recoiled seeing someone so close to him.

“Hey, can you hear me?” Matt asked, putting his hands up for Kit to see. Matt waited for a moment and saw Kit nod slightly. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

Kit just stared back at him, his body trembling a little as he started scratching his forearm.

“Do you know where you are, Elijah?” Matt asked softly, trying to calm him down. 

“Elijah..?” Kit rasped out, a little confused when he heard the name, he clawed his arm. “T-the.. N-nest.”

“No, you arenʻt there,” Matt said, feeling a little heartbroken seeing Kit like this. “You are at Palmetto State University in South Carolina.”

“South Carolina..?” Kit questioned, his body still shaking. 

“You are safe here, Iʻm not going to hurt you. Iʻm Matt Boyd, your roommate,” Matt said, slowly grabbing one of Kitʻs wrists, trying to get him to stop scratching his arm and felt immediate stillness. “You are Kit Elijah Josten, and you are in Palmetto State University.”

“Palmetto State University..?” Kit questioned softly, his body started to feel less stiff as he tried to take deeper breaths, but his heart beat didn’t slow down. “In South Carolina, with Matt?”

“Yeah, buddy,” Matt said with a sad smile, seeing that Kit was starting to come back to the present. “You are here with me, and no one is going to hurt you.”

Kit looked at Matt and blinked a few times before he flinched back. “Jesus, Matt, I-I,” Kit closed his eyes for a moment, remembering the screaming and flinched. “Adam? Where’s Adam?” Kit panicked looking around, before spotting the phone in Matt’s hand, immediately reaching out for the phone.

Matt pulled the phone away from Kit, a frown on his face. “Hey, no. Kit. Are you okay? Donʻt go lying to my face about it.”

Kit sighed and shook his head, he groaned as he climbed off of the bed, his body still shaky. “I just had a moment, okay? I will be okay, and I am not lying about that, because I will be. Now can I finish my call with Adam? I would like to say goodbye.”

Matt fought back the urge to get mad and handed Kit his phone back. Kit nodded in a thanks and put the phone to his ear.

“Jesus Kit, you really scare me sometimes, you know that right?” Adam said with a sigh of relief.

“Yeah, I know that I do,” Kit laughed out. “But like I just said, I just had a moment. Overthinking and all..” Kit looked up at Matt who was watching him closely. “But I will be fine, I have Neil. And now Matt will probably be keeping an eye on me. I’ll talk to you another time Adam.”

“Just look after yourself, it’s okay to not be okay. And you are still strong if you ask for help.”

Matt watched as Kit ended the call and handed him his phone back. “Thank you, Matt. Really. Now, I need to keep myself occupied.”

Matt immediately stepped aside to let Kit out of the bedroom, making sure to keep an eye on him. They went out of the lounge room, the tv was still running so Matt motioned for Kit to sit down, and he soon followed along. The two spoke about Matt’s trip when the ad breaks were on, Kit was making sure to keep himself occupied with the show or the conversation. He didn’t want his mind to start wondering again.

After a while of watching shows and talking, Matt brought up the phone call. “So who was that on the phone? If you don’t mind me asking?”

“Oh, Adam? He’s just someone I’ve known for a while. I met him in Millport and we managed to stay in touch somehow. I havenʻt really spoken to him in a long time but he’s always willing to listen,” Kit said, his hands scratching the itch on his forearms. His body still felt a bit tense and stiff.

“That’s good to know that you have a friend,” Matt said. “But do remember we are your friends too, and you can always talk to me.”

Kit looked down at his watch to see the time, the others should be close to back by now. As if he had predicted it, there was a knock at the door. Kit was the first one to his feet, letting Neil in and looking down the hall at Kevin who went into his dorm. Neil went off into the bedroom, taking the bag that their binder was in with him. Matt was waiting on the arm of the couch for Neil to make his way back into the living room.

Kit went to his spot on the couch and went back to watching the show that was on tv, only listening into the conversation when the ads came on. Soon enough Matt took Neil into the kitchen to show him the new coffee beans that he brought, while they were in there, a knock came from the door. Kit jumped a little but turned around to see Matt opening the door, Nicky stepping into the dorm when Matt stepped out of the way.

Nicky looked at Kit before turning back to Matt, guilt prevalent on his face. “Iʻd uh, lie low for a while if I was you,” Nicky said. “Andrew just found out who put those bruises on Kevinʻs face. I tried defending you because Kevin deserved it and that you paid Aaronʻs bail, but I donʻt think itʻs gonna do. Logic and Andrew arenʻt exactly on speaking terms.”

“Thanks for the heads-up,” Matt said.

Nicky looked to Neil. “He sent me to get you and Kit.”

“What did you tell him?” Kit asked, shaking out his leg before walking over to Nicky.

“Nothing about you two.” Nicky stuffed his hands into his pockets and gave an uncomfortable shrug. “He wanted an update on everything else, Aaronʻs trial and Kevinʻs face and the Ravens. I told him that we made it to the championships and told him about the fight at the Christmas banquet. I didnʻt tell him that you two werenʻt in New York with us.”

Kit nodded as Neil made his way past him going to their bedroom, grabbing Andrewʻs armbands that were hidden under his pillow. They had been there since November. Nicky grimaced at the sight of them.

“Might not be a good idea to arm him right now,” Nicky hesitated.

“Itʻll be fine,” Neil said, and headed down the hall for the stairs, Kit following a beat behind him.

Andrew was waiting in the stairwell, arms folded loosely over his chest and back propped against the railing. His gaze flicked between the brothers before down to the dark cloth in Neilʻs stretched out hand and he took them without saying a word. Even though both Neil and Kit had seen Andrewʻs scars in passing, he still turned away to tug the arm bands. Once his sleeves were hiding the bands, Andrew headed upstairs instead of down.

The stairwell came to a dead end at a door marked ʻRoof Access- Maintenance Staff Onlyʻ. Kit was a little confused why they were coming up here, but seeing that Andrew could open the door by giving the door knob a few hard jiggles, he didnʻt doubt that Andrew did this often. The neat cuts on the door and frame told them that Andrew sabotaged the frame a long time ago. Kit didnʻt question Andrew, but followed Neil and him out into the chilly afternoon. The wind felt like it was blowing harder that they were up higher, Kit was wishing that he had that winter coat, now.

Andrew went to the edge of the roof and surveyed the campus. Kit stepped up beside Neil, looking down at the ground. Kit never feared heights, there was something about sitting or looking over a cliff that felt therapeutic. Maybe it was the rush of danger, not knowing what could happen or maybe it was just the mortality of the whole idea of being near a ledge that could kill you. It was a way to feel something. Neil grabbed Kitʻs attention by holding out a lit cigarette to him. Kit accepted and put it between his lips, a little glad to have a familiar smell and taste to reassure him. Andrew propped his between his lips. Neil cupped his in his hands to shield it from the breeze.

Andrew turned to face Neil, tugging him to the side so that he could see both of them next to one another. “Iʻll take an explanation now.”

“You took us up here, in the cold, to ask questions?” Kit asked, giving a quick scan over the campus, feeling that the wind had picked up a bit.

“If either of you were worried about dying of exposure, youʻre a little late.” Andrew raised a hand to Neilʻs face, only to have it pushed down by Kit. Andrew raised an eyebrow and put his hand up to Kitʻs face, his fingers were a breath away from the otherʻs skin. Andrew wasnʻt looking at the damage that had been done; he was staring at Kitʻs unguarded eyes, before flicking a look over at Neil. “Did I break my promise, or were you two keeping yours?”

“Neither,” Kit replied, honestly.

“I know that you two had ample time in my absence to come up with one of your precious lies, but I remember giving you a truth on credit, Neil. It is your turn in our game and you will not lie to me,”Andrew said, still having his attention on Neil. He had gotten a truth out of Kit, so he was holding Neil to his end of the game.

“Neither,” Neil repeated. “We spent Christmas in Evermore.”

Kit wasnʻt surprised that the first thing that Andrew reached for was the bandage on his cheek, while at the same time he went for Neilʻs as well. Aaron and Nicky had looked past it, not even noticing it amongst the rest of the tape. Andrew had spent too much time with Kevin and watching his back to not start to put the pieces together. He scraped off the corner of Neilʻs first, ripping it off like he wanted to rip his face off with it. His attention was taken back to Kit before he ripped his off as well. Kit was ready for some kind of violent reaction once Andrew saw them, but Andrew only raised an eyebrow when he saw the number three on Kitʻs cheek, but he was indifferent when he saw the five on Neilʻs.

“These are new lows, even for you two,” Andrew said.

“We arenʻt wearing these by choice,” Neil said.

“You both chose to go to Evermore.”

“We didnʻt have a choice. We came back,” Kit said.

“You always have a choice. Riko let you go,” Andrew corrected him. “We are doing too well this season and your feud is too public. No one would have believed that you both willingly transferred to Edgar Allan mid-season.” Andrew smashed the bandage back onto Neilʻs face and pressed the tape down. He took another look at Kitʻs tattoo a split second longer before smacking the bandage back onto his face, pressing the tape down with hard fingers. “Neither of you were supposed to leave Kevinʻs side. Did you forget?”

“We promised to keep him safe,” Neil said. “I didnʻt say weʻd hound him every step of the way like you do. We kept our end of the deal.”

“But not like this,” Andrew said. “You both already said this had nothing to do with Kevin. Why did you go?”

Kit froze even remembering what Riko said to them, he felt like he was going to be sick as he flicked a look over at Neil. 

Neil was the one to push his nausea back and find his words. “Riko said if we didnʻt, Dr. Proust would-”

Andrew clapped a hand over Neilʻs mouth, smothering the rest of his words. This action broke Kit, they couldnʻt stop it. He failed. Both he and Neil failed.

Riko said Easthavenʻs Dr. Proust used ʻtherapeutic reenactmentsʻ to help his patients. It was a thin line between psychological cruelty and real physical abuse, and Riko made it clear that Proust was more than willing to cross that line if Kit or Neil disobeyed his orders. Kit should have known better than to trust Rikoʻs words, but there was a thin line of something in him that said he might be telling the truth for once. Hatred started to burn through the icy numbness in his veins, but the bored look on Andrewʻs face was a little harder to stomach when the news. A few months ago Andrew was so drugged that he laughed at his own pain and trauma. Kit didnʻt have room to judge Andrew, he was no better.

Andrew lowered his hand when Neil went quiet. “Do not make the mistake of thinking I need either of you to protect me.”

“If I knew that I had a chance to try and stop it, and I did nothing about it. I wouldnʻt be able to live with myself and I wouldnʻt be able to face you,” Kit said.

“If there was a chance to stop something from happening and I didnʻt take it. I wouldnʻt be able to live with myself,” Neil said.

“Your crumbling psyches are your own problems, not mine,” Andrew said. “I said I would keep you alive this year so you could look after Neil. You both have made it infinitely more difficult for me when you are both actively trying to get yourselves killed.”

“You spend all of this time and effort looking out for us,” Kit said. “Who is there to watch yours? Donʻt go saying that you are looking after yourself, because you, Neil and I know that you donʻt give two shits about yourself.”

“You both must have hearing problems,” Andrew deduced. “Too many balls to the helmet, perhaps. Can you both read lips?” Andrew took a small step back and pointed to his lips. “The next time someone comes for either of you, stand down and let me deal with it. Do you both understand?”

“If it means losing you, then no,” Neil said, Kit nodded in agreement.

“I hate you both,” Andrew said casually. He took a last long drag from his cigarette and then flicked it off of the roof. “You both were meant to be a side effect of the drugs.”

“We arenʻt hallucinations,” Neil said, nonplussed.

“You both pipe dreams,” Andrew said, he looked at Neil. “Go inside and leave me alone. You stay.”

“You still have my keys,” Neil reminded him.

Kit just took a step back, he watched Andrew dig the keys out of his pocket and pry the car key off of it. Instead of handing the rest back he tossed them after his cigarette. Both Neil and Kit leaned over to see if they landed on anyone, but the sidewalk was empty. Neil’s key is clattered harmlessly against the ground. 

“Not anymore,” Andrew said harmlessly, making Kit straighten back up. 

Neil opened his mouth to say something but turned away to the door, once he was gone Andrew stepped forward and grabbed Kit’s chin roughly. Kit fought the urge to pull away, his body freezing up as Andrew got a proper look at his face for once. 

“Why three?”

Kit raised an eyebrow, at the question, he didn’t know what to say to that. “I don’t know.”

“Bullshit that you don’t. Do not go lying to me. I saw how Jean reacted when he saw you. I saw how Kevin looked at you and still looks at you.”

Kit grabbed Andrew’s wrist trying to pry his hand away from his chin, only to have his hand move to the back of his neck. “Again, I did tell you that I was mistaken for someone didn’t I? That’s why I dyed my hair, people actually thought that I was him. I don’t want to be compared to a dead man.”

“You are going to be a dead man if you continue to think that you can handle things yourself. You must be a pretty good look alike for the Moriyamas to be convinced that you were him,” Andrew said, gripping Kit’s neck tighter before pulling the cigarette out from his lips and putting it in his. “Leave.”

Kit raised an eyebrow but didn’t argue, and went downstairs back to the dorm room knowing that Neil would only be a moment longer since he had to get the keys. Matt was sitting on the couch when he arrived and the coffee had finished brewing. Kit got two mugs ready knowing that Neil would want one when he gets back into the room, as soon as Neil made it back to the room Kit handed him the warm mug. Matt looked over the brothers, as Neil made his way to the couch and Kit to his desk, making sure that there weren’t any new injuries.

Kit listened to the conversation, even though it sounded a world away once he leaned into his desk. His body felt like it went onto autopilot, as his mind began to wonder and eventually fall asleep. A conversation could be heard but it wasn’t enough to wake him up. A hand on his shoulder was enough to warrant him to lash out, landing a hit on whoever it was.

“Hey,” Matt groaned out. “It’s just me.” 

Kit blinked a few times and looked for Neil, seeing him standing at the window. Kit looked at the half empty and cold mug on the desk beside him, it was cold, and the light outside didn’t look right. Overall the mood felt off to what it was a few moments ago. Kit turned his attention back to the window to see that the sun had mostly gone down, or was it going to come up? Kit couldn’t tell.

“What day is it?” Neil asked Matt. 

Kit looked at Matt to see a frown etched into his face. “It’s Tuesday.”

It was twilight, both brothers only lost a few hours. 

“Neil? Kit?” Matt asked watching Kit stand up, shaking out his knee. “You two all right?”

“I'm more tired than I thought I was,'' Neil said. “I’m going to bed early.”

“I’m going to bed too,” Kit muttered as he cracked his neck, wincing at the bruising. “Night Matt.” 

The look that Matt gave the two brothers was a sad one, but he didn’t stop either of them on their way to the bedroom. Kit immediately grabbed his pajamas and went to the bathroom to start the painful process of changing. His breathing got shallower as he poked at the bruising on his hips before yanking his sweats up. He had to make sure that his bandaging was not coming off and his bands were on right. He didn’t care about the strapping that could be seen as he groaned trying to get up to his bunk. He knew that it was too early to sleep, he knew that he was too sore to sleep but putting his back to the wall he willed himself to empty his mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello all! I am here with this, I hope that whoever stuck around to read this likes it!


	2. Chapter 2: I Never Understood Why He Liked Knives

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The brothers meet the rest of the Foxes after their ʻlovelyʻ Christmas vacation.
> 
> A nice once over with Abby
> 
> They get a long once over and there are knives

Getting up on Wednesday morning took most of it out of Kit, but he was a creature of habit and routine, that meant maintaining the steady lie that he was fine to his teammates, along with himself and keeping up on his fitness no matter how bruised or cut up he was. He had to prove to himself that he was okay more so than him proving it to his teammates. Proving it would mean going about his day like the Christmas break had never happened. He stretched his shoulder out, trying to keep his thoughts locked away as he followed Neil out for the slowest jog of Perimeter Road. Every step sent pain from ankle to knee, and into his shoulder, by the time both Neil and Kit made it back to the dorm he was trying to loosen up a muscle in his leg.

Matt, whoʻd disappeared off to the gym before either of them had gotten up, was waiting for them both in the living room with an incredulous look on his face. “Youʻre both crazy, you know that, right? Tell me that you two didnʻt go out looking like that.”

“What time is Dan landing?” Neil asked.

Kit gave Matt a nod before heading down to get a change of clothes before hopping into the shower. As nice as hot steamy water normally relaxed him, it only made cuts sting like hell. Drying himself off was turning out to be more painful then his run despite his best efforts to not pull open any smaller cuts. He found some tape and strapped up his left knee again and ankle, not needing to do his shoulder as it was already done, before making sure his armbands were still in place. Once he had dressed he took a moment to slow his ragged breathing down as he placed on a new bandage over his tattoo. His head was still pounding but that didnʻt stop him for leaving the muggy heat of the bathroom, letting Neil go in.

Matt was getting something to eat by the time Kit grabbed his charged phone from the bedroom, Matt held out a plate of fruit to him, and Kit took it, eating it slowly because of the bruising and burns on his throat. By the time Neil got finished with his shower and rebandaging, both Matt and Kit were sitting near each other on the couch. Kit got up, seeing that Neil was heading to the door and followed him out. Matt didnʻt say anything about the two leaving, assuming that they were probably going to annoy the cousins. Instead Neil and Kit left the dorms and took the winding path down to Perimeter Road. They cut a slow path across campus to the library.

They only saw a few students on their way up to the computer lab. Kit followed Neil down to the last row, even though they were the only ones in there they still wanted some privacy. Kit stopped bothering to keep up with news in September but he knew that Neil wasnʻt looking for scraps of their pasts coming out this time. Kit just sat beside Neil, tapping his fingers on the table and listening to the keys click as Neil looked up things for the teams that made it into the spring season. It was easy to keep an eye on someone when all you two are doing is wasting a few hours.

Kit didnʻt remember resting his head on his forearms, and he definitely didnʻt remember falling asleep. Fingers gripping and yanking at his hair startled him awake. He reached out for Neil with one hand and for a knife, for a gun, for anything close enough for him to try and put distance between him and the person who grabbed him, only sending the computer monitor backwards along with the keyboard. Kit blinked a few times before looking at Neil, seeing a pale hand gripping onto his head as well. Fingers clenched into a fist in his hair and neither Neil nor Kit resisted when Andrew forcibly tilted their head back.

“Are your learning curves a horizontal line?” Andrew asked. “I told both of you yesterday to stop making my life difficult.”

“And I told you that we wouldnʻt promise anything.”

Andrew let go of them and watched Neil and Kit rub the back of their head. Kit rubbed down his neck as Neil shut down all of the tabs. Kit leaned over to see what the time was, it was just after eleven, which meant that Matt was greeting Dan and the girls at Arrivals and both of them were meant to be at the stadium with Abby. Kit didnʻt know what he was more upset about, that he fell asleep in the open and didnʻt stay awake for Neil or that he lost two hours in a blink of an eye. He grabbed at his own forearm, trying to calm his heart rate down a bit. Muttering a prayer in Spanish that he learnt from an old lady in Mexico, even though he wasnʻt religious, if there was a higher power they couldnʻt fault him for not praying.

Andrew started for the stairs, rightfully assuming that Neil and Kit would follow. The car was at the curb with the hazards flashing. Kevin was sitting in the back with Aaron while Nicky was nowhere to be seen. Kit didnʻt know how someone managed to talk Kevin into sitting in the back seat, or to give up the passenger seat. Kit climbed into the back, leaning against the door as he buckled up.

“How did you know where we were? We didnʻt tell Matt where we were going,” Kit asked, looking at Kevin. 

“You two donʻt have many places to go,” Kevin groaned out, as Andrew finally got them going. “Coach said that neither of you were at the stadium when we got there, thatʻs when we left Nicky to get you two. Also you need to learn to answer your phones.”

Kit pulled his phone out of his pocket and powered it on, seeing a few missed calls. “Forgot to turn it on.” Kit shrugged putting it back in, he kept looking at Kevin, who was looking between Andrew and Neil in the front seats. He knew that there was something up, but he didnʻt know what. Kit listened and watched Andrew leant over and opened the glove box, and Neil got something out of it.

Kit looked up at Kevin and poked him in the arm, before speaking in soft Japanese, “Are you going to mention something? Or do you not want to get into that?” Kevin didnʻt say anything, he only shook his head, his arm leaning against Kitʻs as he kept an eye on the two up front.

The drive to Foxhole Court was short and Andrew didnʻt follow them inside. Neil punched in the code and led them into the locker room. Wymack and Abby were waiting for Neil and Kit in the lounge. Abby looked immeasurably upset when she looked at both Neil and Kit in their sorry states, but she didnʻt chastise them for their choices or ask why. Maybe she had gotten satisfactory answers from Wymack, or maybe Wymack asked her not to pry. Either way, both Neil and Kit were grateful.

“I canʻt believe you both trusted David to patch you up,” Abby said. “The man can barley wash a dish, much less clean stitches.”

“Shush, woman,” Wymack said. “I was careful with the two of them.”

Kit stepped forward as Abby motioned for him. “Come on, Kit, letʻs have a look at you first.”

Kit looked from Kevin to Neil, as Abby led the way to her office, closing the door behind Kit as soon as he was inside. Climbing up onto the bed was less painful than trying to climb the ladder to his bunk. Abby collected gauze and antiseptic while Kit shrugged out of his jacket, hissing at moving his shoulder the wrong way. A numbing pain filled his shoulder and back as he tried to get his tee shirt off and he tried to take deeper breaths to help through the pain. 

Abby helped him get the shirt off of his arms, before she motioned for the arm bands to come off. She set everything aside, taking that moment to fully get her attention back to Kit, who seemed to be staring at anywhere but her. She hated seeing her Foxes like this, seeing the Josten twins in even worse shape then when she first got them. She started at the top, stopping each time Kit seemed to flinch a little too much, she gently rubbed her fingers through his hair, checking for hidden bumps. Wymack had checked both him and Neil yesterday morning, but Abby peeled off all of the bandages except for the one on Kitʻs cheek. 

“Coach told you about the tattoo?” Kit asked.

“And these.” Abby softly slid her fingers over the bruising and rope burn around Kitʻs neck.

“Are not you going to ask?” Kit asked.

“Iʻve seen your scars, Kit. Iʻm not surprised as I thought I would be to find out that they werenʻt the only things that you hide. Iʻm not going to ask because you told me not to pry, but I do want to ask.”

She went back to work, checking the strapping that Kit had done on his bruised shoulder and his wrists, and making sure that the bruising on his lower torso wasnʻt anything too serious. Making sure that everything was moving okay before she was done with his upper body, she moved onto taking care of his legs. She kept her eyes away from his forearms and hips as she looked at the bruising and cuts that lined his thighs that were left there by the heavy racquets. There were layers of bruising, brighter purple ones over finding green and yellow ones. Kitʻs knees and shins werenʻt much better, but the strapping made it look a little better.

“Coach wonʻt let me play, go near the court or even look at the gym until you clear me,” Kit said. “How soon can you?”

Abby looked up at him like he was talking in Spanish or something. “You can gear up when you donʻt look like you were trampled in the derby.”

“The strapping is there just in case, it only hurts when it pulls at the skin, I am getting a lot better,” Kit tried to convince. “Besides, Iʻve played with a broken nose and finger before. Plus, I was in worse shape at Evermore.”

“This isnʻt Evermore, and Iʻm going to make sure that you are okay before you gear up. I know that the season is important to you, but I wonʻt let you risk your safety and health any further. You need to take it easy for a while. For a week,” she said, raising her voice when Kit opened his mouth to protest. “If you take it easy Iʻll look you over on Friday afternoon to see if you will be ready to go back and train on Monday, seeing it's mainly bruising, and most of the cuts donʻt have stitches. But if I hear that you have done anything strenuous between now till then, I will not hesitate benching you for another week. Understood? Use the time to rest. And when you can, you need to let them air out.”

“A week?!” Kit said, sounding wounded by what she just told him. “That is not fair.” He wanted to tell her that he canʻt waste any time on the side lines, he had to play, besides Neil, Exy was all that he had.

“No,” Abby said, gently cupping Kitʻs face in her hands, feeling him tense up. “This isnʻt fair, none of this is.”

The painful strain in her voice killed any argument that Kit had. Abby looked over him, tracing over his old scars before landing on his forearms. 

“Sometimes I think that this job is going to kill me,” Abby said. “Seeing what people have done, what they continue to do, to my Foxes. I wish I could protect you, but Iʻm always too late. All I can do is patch you up afterwards and hope for the best. Iʻm sorry, Kit. We should have been there for you and Neil.”

“I did not want Neil there in the first place,” Kit said. “And I would not have let anyone else be.”

Abby waited a moment before pulling Kit into a light hug. He froze up, not from the pain but from the uncertainty. The only person who hugs him is Neil, and occasionally Kevin, but when then those are always a quick squeeze. Adam, he held him like he was about to break but Kit knew that he would never be able to feel that again. Mary had pulled Neil close and held onto Kitʻs shoulder but that was only when they were sidestepping curious eyes and she wanted to shield them as much as she could with her body. Sheʻd never held him like he was worth keeping safe. She had always been tough. Even though she wasn’t a good mother, far from being a decent person, she had been fierce and unbreakable to the end. 

Kit remembered her ragged breaths, her trying to grab at one last breath and her clawing at his arms. He remembered pulling Neil away from her to pull her melted skin from the vinyl. Even though Kit hated her, she was the reason that Neil survived. Kit didn’t have anything other than the smell of fire to remind him of her. Unlike Neil, he had a small hint of her in his reflection; his eyes were partly green, but every other inch of his being was his father.

She was gone. Even if she was here, there was no way in hell that she would have comforted him like this. She wouldn’t have held him close, held him gently like the smallest push would have broken him. She would have cleaned his and Neil’s wounds because they couldn’t risk them getting slowed down by an infection, but she would have hit them both for choosing the Foxes over their own safety. Kit could almost feel her presence behind him, harping his ear off and the feeling of heavy hands on his back. He wouldn’t survive long enough to forget the sound of her voice. It was at once reassuring and depressing and a sudden swell of grief threatened to swallow him whole.

“Let go,” Kit said, trying to ground himself while trying to ignore the burning in his eyes. “I need to get out of here, are we done?”

Abby pulled away slowly but felt the sudden urge to pull him back into a hug, but she restrained herself and helped him get dressed again. Abby didn’t let him tie his own shoes, even though he told her that he was able to. Kit let her and focused on fixing his armbands from underneath his jacket. Abby moved so he could get down to the bed and followed him out to get Neil.

Kevin and Aaron were sitting in their spots and Neil was putting his phone on charge. Neil followed Abby to her office as Kit sat down in his spot on the couch, laying his leg up on the couch to keep his knee straight just to make sure that it was okay. After a few minutes of silence Matt, Nicky and the girls arrived. The girls’ attention went straight to Kit, who was leaning back into the couch as he rubbed his forearms. The girls stayed staring at him for a moment too long, a little confused by his looks, but none of them went to mention it.

“Hey, Renee!” Kit smiled at her once he spotted her, giving her a small wave. “How was your holiday?”

“It was good,” Renee said with a smile as she joined the girls in their seats. “It’s good to see that you are alright.”

Kit laughed a bit, knowing that he wasn’t okay. “Yeah, I’m alright.” 

“You sure look like you are.” Allison scoffed out.

Their conversation ended with that. Kit going back to scratching the new cuts in his forearms, Dan and Matt looking between each other, Kevin watching over Kit and observing his injuries, Aaron and Allison not caring and Nicky looking anywhere else. After a brain numbing amount of time, Neil soon enough came back into the lounge. Walking over to his spot next to Kit, waiting for him to move his leg off of the couch. Kit hissed through clenched teeth as he sat up properly, bending his knee. Neil carefully lowered himself beside his brother, not being able to hide how careful he was being. 

That was when Dan’s temper finally snapped. “That motherfuck-”

She was cut off so abruptly both Neil and Kit had to look at her. Renee had a hand on her shoulder. Renee smiled at the brothers when they looked her way and said, “We were just debating what to order for lunch. Abby said she’ll call it in and pick it up for us so we don’t have to wait on delivery. Any suggestions?”

“I’m fine with anything,” Neil said.

“I’m good with whatever. “ Kit shrugged.

Allison raked them with a skeptical look. “Can either of you chew?”

“Yes,” Neil answered for both of them. “Where is Andrew?”

“Saw him on our way in,” Matt answered. “He and Coach are talking on the far end of the parking lot. Getting to know each other again, I guess. Here’s hoping it goes better than their first meeting.”

“I’m still talking to the two of you,” Allison said.

“Good for you,” Kit said. “Have you seen Seth’s banner?”

It took a moment for the words to sink in, and then Allison was out of her chair and striding toward the court in six-inch rainbow heels. Dan looked for a moment like she was going to follow Allison, but she changed her mind with a short shake of her head. 

“Subway or Chinese?” she asked Neil and Kit.

“Either one is fine.”

“I’m with Allison on the chewing thing.” Nicky gestured at his own face and neck, indicating the bruises staining Neil’s cheeks and jaw, and ones on Kit’s neck. “Noodles and rice are softer than subs. Let’s go with Chinese.”

Matt got up to relay that new information to Abby. He was on his way back when the outer door thumped closed. Across the room Dan sat up a little straighter and shot Renee a meaningful look. Renee dropped her hand and laced her fingers together in her lap. It wasn’t the eager response Dan was looking for, judging by Dan’s disappointed frown, but Dan didn’t have time to push it before Andrew stepped through the lounge door alone.

Matt made the mistake of stopping to look. Andrew didn’t even hesitate when he punched Matt hard enough to knock him off of his feet. It should have been impossible to topple him; Matt had more than foot on Andree and could out-press any of them at the gym. Andrew had the advantage of surprise, though, it didn’t stop when Matt hit the ground. He smashed his fist into Matt’s face as soon as Matt landed on the ground.

Dan was on her feet in a heartbeat, but somehow both Neil and Kit made it to Andrew first. Neither of them remembered when they decided to move. Neil used his body and momentum to shove Andrew back, and Kit immediately stood between the two of them. Kit expected some sort of push back from Andrew, but Andrew let himself get pushed and flicked Neil an unconcerned look. 

“Andrew, enough,” Kit said, watching Neil rub his shoulder. “He might have punched Kevin but I already went off at him yesterday. He knows what he did was wrong.”

“Matt did nothing wrong,” Neil argued with Kit. 

Andrew flicked his fingers to dismiss Neil. “He knew what would happen if he laid a hand on Kevin again. Yet he was stupid enough to do it twice. If he does it again I will not be as friendly.”

“I told you this would happen Matt,” Kit laughed. “Why didn’t you believe me?”

“Kit, you can’t be serious, you’re siding with Andrew. You are okay with him threatening Matt?” Dan said in disbelief before turning to Andrew. “Who do you think paid for Aaron’s bail? If it weren’t for Matt, Aaron would still be in prison waiting for his trial.”

“Doesn’t matter,” Aaron said from his chair. 

Yesterday Nicky looked guilty when he warned Matt to lay low. Today he closed ranks with his cousins and shrugged expansively at Dan. “Matt helped Aaron by doing that, not Andrew. You can’t count a favour for one as a favour to both just because they are twins, you know. That’s cheating.”

“Nice to see you too, monster,” Matt said, a little sourly. Kit finally looked at Matt when he was getting to his feet again. Matt dragged a hand through the blood sliding from his nose, gave a thick sniff, and grimaced a bit at the taste. “Good to see you’re still fuck-all crazy.”

“Don’t look surprised,” Aaron said. “It wasn’t the drugs that made him crazy.”

“Hello, Andrew,” Renee said.

Andrew said nothing, only sliding an impassive look her way. A pleased smile curved into Renee’s lips and she gave a slight nod, acknowledging and accepting whatever she saw in Andrew’s heavy stare. That two-second exchange was the entirety of their reunion; Andrew turned his attention back to Neil and Kit as soon as Renee had looked her fill.

Abby walked in a moment later and hesitated with her purse half-sling over her shoulder. She looked from Dan’s obvious anger to Matt’s bloody nose and tight expression. It didn’t take long for her to put the pieces together, and she turned a guarded look on Andrew.

“Andrew,” she said. “Welcome back. It hasn’t been the same without you.” Andrew gazed at her in silence. Abby waited, then figured out that she wasn’t going to get a response. She glanced awkwardly around at the other Foxes. “The food should be ready by the time I get there. I’ll be right back, okay? Try to behave while I’m gone.”

“Thanks,” Dan said.

Abby flicked one last look at Andrew and left. The door had barely banged closed behind her when Wymack strode in. Kit was thinking that he wanted the Foxes to sort a few things out themselves, to get used to Neil and Kitʻs injuries and Andrewʻs abrupt re-entry like he abandoned them in September to Allisonʻs grief or that he was having a smoke and not actually wanting to deal with his Foxes yet.

“Didnʻt we talk about not killing your teammates?” Wymack asked. Andrew feigned not to hear, so Wymack looked around. It took him a split second to realize that one of his Foxes were missing. “Allison was just here. Where did she go?”

“She went to go and see the championship banners,” Neil said. 

“Sheʻll come back when sheʻs done crying,” Nicky added.

“Sheʻs not crying, Nicky,” Kit said.

Nicky grinned. “Five bucks says that she is.”

It was a crass attempt to lighten the mood. Kit normally would have brushed it off. Maybe a month ago he would have. He knew that his teammates were obsessive gamblers; they would bet on anything from final scores to Andrew and Reneeʻs nonexistent relationship to who would take the first swing in an argument. Putting money on someoneʻs psychological trauma wasnʻt something that was new or unexpected, but Kit didnʻt want to hear that siht today. His checkup with Abby threatened to break him, he was barely holding it together for Neil, his teammates and himself. The scent of cigarettes that always clung to Andrew was the final straw.

“Donʻt you dare bet on someoneʻs grief,” Neil spoke first, trying to keep the edge out of his voice, but just barely.

Kit glared at Nicky. “How dare you try and bet on something like this, never ever bet on someone elseʻs grief.”

“Oh, hey, hey.” Nicky put his hands up in self-defense. “No harm intended, right? No offense. I was just trying to lighten the mood.”

“Lighten your chair and go and check on her,” Wymack said. “Weʻve got a lot to go over today and I canʻt start until she gets back. Sheʻll be angrier at us if we start without her than she will be if you interrupt her. And yes, I mean you, Hemmick. I donʻt want Kit or Neil moving more than they have too.”

“I can walk,” Neil said. 

“Just cause Iʻm strapped up, doesnʻt mean Iʻm a cripple,” Kit joked.

“Proud of you both,” Wymack said. “Didnʻt ask.”

Nicky hoisted himself out of his chair and left.

Andrew dug a fingernail into the hollow of Neilʻs throat, immediately gaining a reaction from Kit, who grabbed his wrist tightly. “Both of you, sit down and be still.”

Once Kit let go of Andrew, Neil batted Andrewʻs hand away and both of them turned to the couch. Andrew claimed the middle cushion, being a bit closer to Kevin, so both Neil and Kit had enough room next to him. Kit kept his left knee out straight, massaging it through his jeans, he regretted getting up that quickly. Kit didnʻt look at Matt, knowing that he was probably upset in the fact that he sided with Andrew in the fight, so he turned his attention to Andrew. Andrew was looking down at the shiny small knife that he was twirling around in his fingers. It wasnʻt one of the ones that he kept in his armbands, Kit looked at those when Neil was showering after the banquet. It didnʻt surprise Kit that he didnʻt recognize it. No one ever saw the same knife twice when it came to Andrew.

“Itʻs not that fascinating,” Andrew said, glancing at the brothers who were watching him.

“No,” Neil agreed.

“Itʻs a nice knife.. But itʻs not fascinating,” Kit muttered, only loud enough for Neil and Andrew to hear.

He didnʻt know how to word the emotions seeing a sharp blade brought up seeing that he had used many knives when he was younger and that he. His and Neilʻs father was called the Butcher for a reason. His favourite weapon was a cleaver, sharp and hefty enough to take limbs off in a single hack. Before the cleaver Nathan Wesninski used an axe. Kit knew that he liked to use the axe to make people suffer, and truly regret how they wronged the Butcher before they died. The blade was dull enough now it required a bit of extra weight and effort to cut through bone. Kit had seen him use it a few times, but the one that stuck with him was the day that Neil met Riko and Kevin at Evermore Stadium. And going by their father being the ʻButcherʻ, it went without saying that both Neil and Kit learnt how to use and handle knives for all situations, they learned things that no five to six years olds should have ever known.

“Itʻs just…” Neil tried grasping for words, too aware that the conversation across the room had quieted down a little. The upperclassmen were trying to listen in without being obvious. “I never understood why he likes knives.”

Kit knew that Neil was careful with his wording, he was trying to make the upperclassmen think that he was talking about Riko. But Kit knew the truth, Neil was talking about their father. “If you want, I can give you the same lecture that he gave me.”

Those simple sentences should not have gotten the reaction that they did. Andrew went still and looked up, but he didnʻt look at either Neil or Kit. He looked at Renee, so did Neil and Kit, too. Sheʻd stopped mid-sentence to stare at Neil and Kit, but the Renee studying them wasnʻt the Foxesʻ redeemed optimist. Her sweet smile was gone and the too-blank look on her face reminded them of Andrew. Kit froze for a moment, feeling like he was being stared down by Riko or his father. Before he could move to grab Neil’s arm, Renee shifted her inscrutable gaze to Andrew.

They stared each other down, soundless and still, oblivious to the bewildered looks their teammates flicked between them. You didn’t say anything, but Renee lifted her chin. Andrew harmed in response and put the knife away.

“He will lose the taste when he has one in his gut,” he said.

“He deserves a bullet to the head,” Kit muttered, looking at Neil who nodded a little in agreement.

Kit flicked Renee a look, just in time to see the ‘other’ Renee disappear. A calm mask melted away the look of death on her face and Renee picked up where she left off. She didn’t acknowledge what just happened or the obvious questions on Dan's face but gently bullied her friends into rejoining the conversation.

Allison and Nicky returned together. Allison's cheeks were dry and her eyes were filled with a fierce determination as she took her seat. Renee’s smile was encouraging and then grinned in approval. Allison drummed in patient fingernails on the arms of her chair and fixed Wymack with an expectant look.

“Who are we eliminating first?”

“Round one: southeast versus southwest.” Wymack picked up his clipboard and skimmed the top page. “Odd ranked teams play on Thursdays this year so we’ve got Fridays. January 12th we’re away against University of Texas. Good news that Austin is just outside the thousand mile range, which means the board is gonna let us fly there.

“The 19th we are home for a rematch against Belmonte. January 26th we’re away against Arkansas. It’s 2 out of 3 proceed to death matches. Belmont is the fourth ranked team, but you remember what they were like last for. SUA is also fourth-ranked. UT is second right, and they have been second in their region for the past five years.

“All three of those teams have been in spring championships before with bearing results. They know what they’re doing. They know what it takes to qualify. We are the weak link. That doesn’t mean you’re going to break. That means you have to work twice as hard to keep up. If you all are willing to do that, we have a fighting chance.”

Wymack held out the stack of papers and waggled them at Matt. Matt got up and passed them out. Wymack put together round one packets for them. The first was UT’s fall Schedule, complete with results. At the bottom detailed UT’s last seven attempts at Sprint Championships. For three of those they had made it as far as the third round before getting knocked out. Kit flipped over the page and looked at the team roster. The next four pages follow the same pattern for Belmonte and SUA.

“Monday Will break down their place style in depth and pin down strategies, why Mac said. By then I’ll also have copies of all there for games burned onto desks. Watch them in your spare time if you’re curious about it. With one exception, I am not taking time out of practice is to show you more than a couple of highlights.

“There’s a week between around one and the first set of death matches,” Wymack continued. “Bad news we won’t find out who we are up against until February. Good news: this year the Big Three are all odd bracket. They have to face each other in the third round. This will be the first time in six years that one of them is getting knocked out before the semifinals.”

“Oh, damn,” Dan said, startled. “That’s lucky.”

“My money’s on Penn dropping,” Nicky said.

“Don’t,” Kevin said before the others could start placing their bets. “It doesn’t matter which one is eliminated; we are nowhere near ready to face any of them. How long are Neil and Kit benched?”

“A week,” Neil said, a little resentful. “Abby won’t reconsider until next Tuesday.”

“Abby said she’ll give me another checkup on Friday,” Kit said, frowning a bit. “She wants to see if most of the bruising has gone down so I can get back on the court on Monday.”

“Generous,” Dan said. “I’d have bench to the both of you for the entire first round.”

“I’m fine to play,” Neil said.

“I know where my limits are, I’m fine to train,” Kit continued on.

Kevin reached around Andrew to smack the back of Kit’s head, then leaned further over to smack Neil. Every ounce of awkward empathy that he managed to feel for Neil was gone, and every ounce of pity that he felt for Kit went out the window, hearing him say that he was alright to train. Kevin knew that both of them were forced to train and push through the pain, and he knew that they had to rest. He returned the brothersʻ annoyed look with a fierce glower and a scathing, “Neil, I told you not to lie about your health. Kit, donʻt you dare start going on about you knowing where your limits are because you never stick to them. We need the both of you on the court, but not if either of you are going to drag us down with the both of you. In the shape that you both are in, youʻd be a complete waste of our time.”

“We would not,” Neil barked back. “Put us on the court and weʻll both prove it to you.”

“Shut up,” Wymack cut in as Kit was about to argue back against Kevin. “Neil, when you are sporting less than fifty stitches and Kit, when you are sporting less than a roll of tape and look like you havenʻt been beat with a baseball bat, Iʻll consider letting you on my court again. If I catch either of you as much as look at your gear before then I will bench you another week out of spite. Do you understand?”

“But-”

“Hey-”

“Give me a ʻYes, Coachʻ.”

“Coach-”

Both Neil and Kit started before forgetting the rest of their argument when Andrew pinched their wrist and shoulder respectively. A bolt of numbing fire bolted up Kitʻs neck and down his arm and he immediately leaned away from Andrew as quickly as he could. Kit looked at Neil, seeing him cradling his arm to his stomach. Kit held his shoulder tightly trying to get the pain to die down and sullenly turned his attention back on Wymack.

“Appreciate it, I think,” Wymack said. “Andrew, how far behind are you? I didnʻt see a fitness center listed with Easthavenʻs amenities.”

“There wasnʻt one,” Andrew said. “I improvised.”

“Do I want to know?” Wymack asked, before immediately answering his own question. “No, I donʻt, unless thereʻs an impending lawsuit I should know about.

“Morning practices are at the gym again. Neil and Kit, until youʻre back on the court, youʻll both be meeting me here instead. Iʻll put you both to work watching tapes and researching UTʻs defense and attack. Tomorrow afternoon weʻre doing the semesterʻs meet-and-greets with Betsy. You all know the routine: you canʻt go with someone that pays the same position. Danʻll figure out the pairs and give you an allotted time during morning practice. Right?”

“On it,” Dan said.

“Last order of official business from me is damage control,” Wymack said. “We’ve got everyone’s attention. A fierce season and ample tragedies means were the talk of the town, and this year people might actually route for the underdog. The board wants us to encourage that fever with more publicity. Inspect more cameras and games, more interviews, and more nonsense in general. If I could ban some of you from ever opening your mouth in public again, I would, but this is out of my hands. Attempt to behave yourselves without sacrificing your confident image. Think you can do that?”

“You’re no fun, Coach,” Nicky complained.

“I will be less fun if you make us look like fools,” Wymack said. “But I’m not as worried about you as I am about our resident punching bags and their smart mouths. Anyone have any ideas on how to make Neil and Kit look a bit less like a pair of battered wives?”

“It’s under control,” Allison said, and looked to Neil and Kit. “You’ll be coming to our room after the meeting.”

“We were going to buy books today,” Neil said. 

“I was going to get new strings,” Kit mentioned.

“I wasn’t asking,” Allison said. “You both can go when I’m done with you too, unless you want to go out looking like that.”

“We promise not to ask about Christmas,” Renee said. Either she didn’t see the annoyed look Allison shot her for killing the chance to finally get some good gossip or she chose to ignore it. “It’ll only take a couple of minutes, I think.”

Kit didn’t trust Allison, and he didn’t know what she had planned. He certainly didn’t trust her not to pry but he knew that Renee would step in if need be.

“Okay,” Neil answered.

“I need to get my things, too,” Nicky said. “We can go when they’re done with the two of you.”

Wymack nodded and surveyed his team. “Anyone got anything official to add?”

“We are going to need a shelf or something in here to put our championship trophy on,” Dan said. “Can we rearrange it?”

“The board won’t sign off on a purchase like that until we have at least made it through to the second death match,” Wymack said. “Nice try, though.”

“Who actually needs the board's permission?” Allison said. “I’m going to buy it, because the board is too stingy. We deserve something obscenely expensive. Matt, measure the bed of your truck. I need to know what I can fit before I start looking for the right piece.”

“Oh, to be young and filthy rich,” Nicky said. “Must be nice.”

Allison considered her fresh manicure with lofty boredom. “It is.”

Nicky rolled his eyes but didnʻt push it any further.

“Anything else?” Wymack asked. The sound of the main door opening heralded Abbyʻs return with the food and Wyamck shook his head. “Never mind. Foodʻs here. Stuff your faces and get out of my locker room. Iʻll be going over paperwork and scheduling if anyone needs me.”

He hopped off of his perch and vanished into his office. Abby covered the coffee table with food containers and passed out paper plates. When she was done she stayed just long enough to give a quiet but warm welcome back to the Foxes. Kit thought that it was a little bit weird that she wasnʻt staying to hear about the otherʻs breaks, but the uncomfortable look that she flicked towards Neil, Kit and Andrew on her way to Wymackʻs office made him think that she was trying to spare their feelings. It was very misplaced concern. Andrew wasnʻt likely to care what his teammates did in their breaks and both Neil and Kit didnʻt begrudge their teammates for enjoying one of the only breaks that they get during the school year.

Lunch was a quiet affair. Neil unplugged his phone and Kit followed Neil and Andrew on the way out and Andrew wouldnʻt let either of them into the car unless he saw that their phones were powered on and at least halfway charged. The team took two cars back to Fox Tower, and both Neil and Kit followed the girls into their room. Allison made Neil sit sideways on the couch and Kit sit on the coffee table, while she went through her suitcase. She brought out a plastic bag with her and sat as close to Neil as she could. Kit flinched back as Allison waved Renee over to help her with Kit. 

“All of this would have been a lot easier if you two were with us,” Allison said, glancing over at Kit as Renee sat down next to him on the coffee table. It sounded like an accusation, even though they hadnʻt made neither Neil nor Kit aware of their intentions. Kit felt like Allison wanted them to apologize for all of this. “It doesnʻt matter. I bought the entire row. Something will match for the two of you sooner or later. Look straight ahead and let me work. Renee you can start colour matching as well.”

Allison lifted up the small packages two at a time, before handing them to Renee and Kit allowed to put them close to his skin. Some of them Allison outright discarded before Renee could even check them. Others she had Renee set aside after she checked Kit, so she could have another inspection. Finally, between the two of them, they were left with four. Renee paused and turned to Neil and Allison, to watch her start her work on covering up the bruises lining his throat and face. Kit watched Neil and Allison out of the corner of his eye, making sure that she wasnʻt going to hurt Neil, but he kept most of his attention on Renee, noticing that she was trying to have the least amount of skin to skin contact and making sure that he was comfortable with what she was about to do.

“Why?” Dan finally demanded, feeling like she was waiting long enough for a proper answer. “What did he hope to gain? Why did he do this?”

“Dan,” Renee said in a quiet rebuke, noticing the tension in Kitʻs shoulders the second that Dan even referred to him. “We promised.”

“You promised,” Dan replied.

Kit wanted to let Renee handle this, he didnʻt want to have to talk about anything that happened, or why Riko did what he did. 

“To get to Kevin,” Neil said, earning a look from Kit and Allison putting her hands down as he slanted a look up at Dan. “Did you know? Kevinʻs been with the Foxes a year now, but he still has a room at the Ravenʻs Nest. Donʻt even bring up his missing third on the perfect court, heʻs been missing for four years and Riko hasnʻt touched a thing in his room. Itʻs interesting, right? Riko hasnʻt even thrown away their school work. Riko threatens and dismisses Kevin at every turn, but he canʻt let him go. Heʻs as obsessed with Kevin as Kevin is with him.”

Neil took a breath in and looked at Kit who gave a little nod. Kit was happy that Neil avoided using that name. “Kevinʻs starting to forget him,” Kit said, gaining their attention. “When we faced off against the Ravens in October, Kevin cared more about us than he did about Riko standing at his back, that kind of shit does not sit well with Riko and he is not one to take something that disrespectful lightly. When he did that, he chose us over them. He chose his future over his past and Riko does not know how to deal with that. Riko is the ʻKingʻ. He does not like being dismissed or belittled or outplayed. So he took away the people Kevin was leaning on. He wanted us to fear him and to give Kevin doubts about being here in the first place. He was trying to show the power that he had to make him regret coming to the Foxes and not going back.”

Dan gave a rude snort. “What an incompetent asshole.”

“Thank you,” Neil said. Dan looked lost, so Neil continued, “For not asking us if it worked.”

“Of course it didn’t work,” Allison said. “Neither of you are afraid of Andrew. Why would you be afraid of Riko? He’s just another loudmouth, spoiled child with anger issues. Now eyes forward and let me work, Renee you keep working on Kit.”

Kit’s eyebrow twitched hearing that, yes, Riko might be a loudmouthed child with anger issues, but he was not spoiled. He was just as scared of the Master as everyone else was. Kit tensed up every now and then while Renee set to work with advice from Allison. Allison leaned back a bit and gave Neil a once over, before turning and giving Kit a once over as well, then got up and grabbed a mirror from her desk. Kit saw how Neil froze up when he looked at him, but he had to admit that he paused for a second seeing Neil. Allison wanted them to see both her and Renee’s handy work. But Neil just put the mirror face down on his lap.

“If you say it’s good, I’ll believe you,” Neil said.

“I believe what you say, if itʻs good or not,” Kit said to Renee, who just smiled and nodded in a way of saying that it was good.

“Not scared of Riko, but you're both scared of your own reflections?” Allison crossed her arms over her chest and treated both of them to a pitying look. “You are a pair of messed up children. You come by that naturally or did your parents do that to you?”

“A bit of-”

Dan cut Kit off before he could finish his sentence. “You both look great. Anyone gets too close theyʻll probably notice that you are both wearing makeup, but I donʻt think that anyone will ask. From back here I canʻt even tell. You both will have to stop by here after morning practices to get dolled up for classes until the mess fades. Do either of you have nine oʻclock classes this semester?”

“No, didnʻt feel like getting up early,” Kit mentioned. “Also was cutting it close with practices.”

“No, was cutting it too close too often last fall.” To Allison, Neil said, “Thank you. I wouldnʻt have even thought of trying this. It seems like a useful trick.”

“It is. I learned it to keep the paparazzi off my back when I first started playing. I havenʻt needed it since then, but I never forget a good fashion tip.” Allison lifted one shoulder in a shrug. “Take it for a test run and go get your textbooks, and strings. Now, preferably. Dan is waiting to commandeer your room.”

“Itʻs not their room that Iʻm interested in,” Dan said.

Kit stood up, and gave Reneeʻs shoulder a squeeze before stepping out of the way, with Neil getting off of the couch. “Leaving,” Neil said.

“Oh, Kit and Neil?” Dan said then both Neil and Kit made it to the door. Kit paused with his hand around the door knob, flicking a look over at Dan. “If either of you want to talk about any of it, or anything, or,” she gestured vaguely at the side of her head, maybe meaning the abrupt changes in the brothersʻ looks, “you both know that weʻre here for you, right? Whatever you two need.”

“I know,” Neil said. “Maybe later. Text one of us when itʻs safe to come back?”

“Maybe, maybe not,” Dan smirked.

Kit sighed and left. He pulled the door closed behind Neil and leaned onto the wall next to the door. His body ached, he was lacking sleep and not looking forward to not training for the next week, but for a short moment none of that mattered.

“Weʻre going to be okay,” he said, looking at Neil. “We are going to be okay. I promise that we will be.”

“We are,” Neil said, holding a hand out for Kit who just linked a finger with his. “I know that we are.”

The Foxes are going to be okay, and that was more than enough.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello all that are reading this!
> 
> i hope that you liked this update!


	3. Chapter 3: You Like Us? I Hate The Both Of You.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Foxes are back and training, and they have to go to therapy, (they all need therapy, we all know that..) 
> 
> Secrets are shared and a night out is had.

Kit still felt a little out of place, not being able to go to the gym on Thursday morning, but Wymack gave both him and Neil one of UTʻs more interesting matches to watch. Wymack went to his office to watch a different one, and the three of them discussed each player's playing styles. The girls picked both of them up, seeing that Allison needed to work on Neilʻs face, and Renee was going to work on Kitʻs. It was a lot faster for the both of them, seeing as Allison knew what and where to work on for Neil, while Renee seemed to be getting the hang of it. 

Kit managed to get Renee to agree on going to lunch with him during their break before having to rush off to class. Most of his classes were a blur of words, stares and whispers about him. He was a little more worried about people seeing through the makeup on his neck and face then he was about his looks over all.

Kit met up with Renee, and the two sat down for lunch like they normally did, but this time there was a lot less talking. By the time that they were almost done with their food, Kit finally spoke up.

“Why did you react the way that you did when Neil mentioned something about the knife?” Kit asked, after making sure that there was no one within earshot.

Renee paused for a moment, looking down at her hands. “Do you remember I told you that I used to be in a gang? There was a man there who went out of his way to hurt me. He liked knives and kept a half-dozen on him at all times. I couldnʻt defend myself by normal means, so I learned how to fight with knives, too. I practiced for a year before I finally bested him.

“ʻBestedʻ.” Renee contemplated her word choice for a few moments before saying, “He didnʻt survive the fight. Boss helped stage the body so we could pin it on a rival gang and I was promoted. I kept the knives through my trial and adoption. I wanted to remember what darkness Iʻm capable of- and what darkness Iʻm capable of surviving.”

“You did the right thing, Renee,” Kit said. “If he lived, he would have come for you. He would have gone after others. But more importantly, he would have come after you again for trying something and hurt you worse.”

“I know,” Renee said softly. “I didnʻt do it for the greater good, I didnʻt personally care about who came before me or who would come after. I did it because he personally wronged me and I didnʻt want to be afraid of him anymore. I regret what it did to me more than I regret the necessity of his death. I felt no horror when I watched him die. I was proud of what Iʻd done to him.

“I told Andrew what I did,” Renee continued. “The next day while I was at class he broke into my room and took my knives. When I asked for him to give them back, he said that I was lying to myself. That if I wanted to remember, I wouldnʻt be hiding them in my closet like a shameful secret that I wasnʻt ready to let go of or revisit. They werenʻt doing me any good, so he said that he would carry them until I needed them again.

“I let him have them because I trusted him not to use them,” Renee said. “I supposed to be: not weapons anymore but a symbol of what weʻve overcome. I didnʻt ask him for his reasons. I knew he would tell me if he wanted me to know.”

Kit sat there for a moment. Those knives were meant to be a symbol that both of them had survived. Kitʻs mind went straight to Drake, but the sudden itch on his forearms told him that it could be something else. Not only did Andrew survive his past, he survived his own psychological demons.

Kit put his arms on the table, pulling up his sleeves to scratch through the arm bands. “So the knives that Andrew carries, they were yours? You did know how to pick out a nice blade.”

Renee raised an eyebrow, seeing the black and red cloth before looking back up to Kitʻs face. “I guess I did. But Andrew was right; I donʻt need them anymore, he will give them to you or Neil, and I will teach you both how to use them.”

Renee wasnʻt smiling anymore. Kit studied her expression before up turning his lips, she meant it. Sheʻd put her faith in mankind and her Christian piety on hold and show both him and Neil how to cut a man open from throat to groin if either of them asked her too. Kit now had more of a grasp as to why Andrew liked her. She was crazy enough to be interesting to him.

“Oh, one more thing,” Renee butted in before Kit could answer her question about him wanting their knives. “When you were watching Andrew twirl the knife, you looked really intrigued by it.”

Kit paused for a moment before sighing. “For a short while, a few years ago, I got big into knives.” Kit picked up the knife that he used for lunch, and started twirling it with ease through his fingers, he always mucked around with knives when he ate food. Mary wouldnʻt let either him or Neil lose their skills with the blades or any type of weapon because she knew that they would need to use them if it came to life or death. “I just found something relaxing about them. The blade was just captivating, a blade like that can do a lot of damage when itʻs in the right set of hands.”

Kit shook his head and dropped the knife, realizing that he used part of the engraved lecture. “As for your offer, no, thank you. I donʻt want to- I donʻt want to be like him. If you asked me that a year or two ago, I might have taken you up on it.”

Renee nodded a little bit, she didnʻt know what to make of what Kit was saying but she could tell that it was partly the truth. She decided against ever bringing it up again. “Alright then, letʻs go back to the dorms now, we will have a bit of time before we have to go to training.”

Both Renee and Kit finished their lunch and walked back to Fox Tower. It was around two o’clock by the time they both made it back and split ways, Kit went to the dorm to see Neil working on something. Kit went to his desk and pulled out his Linguistics books to try and focus on something until it was time to meet up. He got a sinking feeling that this is how he was going to be spending his weekend.

At a quarter to three Neil got Kit’s attention so they could go and meet Andrew’s lot for a ride to the stadium. The Foxes usually travelled to practice into groups. Today they took three cars, since they’d be going back and forth to Reddin Hall throughout afternoon practice. Dan for some reason paired Kit up with Kevin and Andrew to go straight there because they had the first slots with Betsy Dobson, meaning that he was trusting Matt to keep an eye on Neil for a short while. Andrew didn’t drive off until Kit saw that Neil had gotten safely into the car with Allison.

The drive there was short, but Kit couldnʻt help but notice Andrew’s eyes flicking off of the road for a second to look in the rear view mirror or over at Kevin. It was something a little strange, but considering Andrew promised to protect both of them, Kit guessed that he wanted to make sure that they were in their right spots. But it was a little harder to miss the lingering looks on Kevin. The trio got out of the car and headed into Reddin, bypassing the general-check in and went down the hall to the counselors’ quarters. Andrew didn’t walk down the hall until both Kevin and Kit sank into the empty chairs.

Kevin and Kit sat there in silence for a while, looking at anything and everything else. It took Kit a little bit but he ened up being the one to break the silence, speaking up in French he asked, “Kevin? Anything different between the two of you?”

Kevin choked on his breath and looked at Kit. “What?” Kevin waited a moment, only getting Kit’s eyebrow raised as an answer. “Oh. Nothing has, but, that’s how it’s always been. He says it’s nothing but I can see that something other than the medication has changed in him.”

Kit blinked then leaned forward a little bit. “What do you mean?”

“There’s just something, somethings, a little different,” Kevin elaborated a little bit. Kevin wasn’t normally one to talk about things that weren’t Exy, but he felt compelled to with Kit. “He thinks that I donʻt notice because I mainly focus on Exy but I do notice things.”

“Anything else strange going on?” Kit questioned.

“What is that meant to mean?”

“You know what, donʻt worry about it, I think I was reading too much into something.”

“What? No tell me, what were you reading into,” Kevin asked, only getting a hand wave and a comment saying ʻdonʻt worry Kev, itʻs nothingʻ. “Do you need to talk about what happened? I just-” Kevin started, but got distracted by someone walking down the hallway. 

Andrew was coming back down with Betsy following him. Andrew went beside Kevin and he gave Kevin’s shoulder a tight squeeze, Kevin took this as a sign to get up and follow Betsy back down the hall to get to her office. Andrew just sat down across from Kit, crossing his arms and stared at him.

Kit immediately shifted in his seat, pulling out his phone to finally check up on all of the unread messages that he had accumulated over the break. Most of them were from Nicky; little comments about things he saw in New York and things that he did with the others, questions about Millport, and scattered demands that Kit stopped ignoring him and that he got Neil to stop ignoring him. At least four of the messages consisted of only exclamation marks. Renee sent only a couple of greetings and Allison sent one, in a group text on Christmas Day. Matt and Dan had texted a few times, but nothing really important was said. Aaronʻs single message was the last one that was sent before all of the New Yearʻs greetings.

ʻDonʻt tell Andrew about Katelyn,ʻ it read.

Katelyn and Aaron had been sneaking around most of the fall semester, avoiding each other at games and only meeting up in the library between classes. Once Andrew was committed Katlyn had become a permanent fixture in their lives, having dinner with Aaron several nights a week and dropping by the dorm on multiple occasions. It was strange thinking that they were relatively reverting to secrecy and Kit wondered why Katelyn had agreed to that decision. Maybe Aaron told her how much Andrew disliked her. She might not have been happy with said decision, but at least she was alive and safe.

Only one text from Kevin, on the day that he and Neil went to Evermore. Kit had turned his phone off a couple of minutes before Kevin sent it; it was time-stamped for their boarding time. Kit felt his lips tug upwards slightly reading the text over and over again, ‘You are a Fox. Don’t forget that. Make sure to help out Jean.’

Jean was someone that Kit tried to help most in the Nest, then and now he came second to Neil. Kit had always liked Jean, having an understanding of what he was going though because it was almost the same story just different names. Jean hated his lot in life, but he was well past the point of trying to fight back. He wasn’t a rebel; he was a survivor. He, just like Kit used to be, did anything to make it through the day, did anything to make sure that he didnʻt get beaten or killed, for him it was survival.

Often Jean’s survival banked on him looking after Neil, which Kit was grateful for, most of the time. Jean held Kit back, telling him that Neil would be okay, while Riko tore Neil apart over and over, he was there to pick Neil up. Jean was there the nights that Riko took things too far with Kit, he was there for both brothers. Even though Kit and Jean werenʻt partners anymore he was still there to help him up when Riko wasnʻt around to see it. Jean was there to help both of them through things. Neilʻs failures and success deeply impacted Jean. 

Kit got out of Rikoʻs grasp, twice, and survived. Neil had survived and made it out. Kevin escaped when his life collapsed around him. Jean was still there, keeping himself together as best as he could. Kit knew, Kit knew how much it would be hurting Jean to see them leave. According to Kevin, Jean was devastated when he went missing. As much as Jean wanted to say that he didnʻt care about Neil, Kit knew deep down, that Jean did actually care about him. He never liked watching people get ripped apart by Riko, but he could never fight back. Jean had nothing to fight for, he accepted his place as Rikoʻs years ago.

A clouded memory was just out of reach. Kit frowned as he tried to focus on it, his mind started jumping from Jean to one of his nights alone with Riko. Kit felt his body freeze up, his free hand gripping tightly into his forearm. He didnʻt hear footsteps but a flick to his forehead, brought him violently back to reality. 

Andrewʻs hand got swatted away as he watched Kit try to recompose himself before trying to get his mind back to where it needed to be. “Get up, I donʻt want to be here longer than I have to be.” Andrew gave Kitʻs hair a tight tug as he got up.

Kevin had just gotten back and Betsy was there waiting for Kit to follow her to her room. Both of them saw what happened but neither of them said anything as Kit got up. 

“Hello, Kit.” Betsy waved Kit down to follow her.

Kit went into the office first, it looked exactly the same as it did since their last meeting. The cushions were in their perfectly-angled positions to the crystal figurines evenly lining her clean shelves. He sat down on the couch and watched as Besty closed the door behind her, she took a moment to mix some hot cocoa and looked over at him. 

“I have some hot tea, if you would like. I remember you saying that you werenʻt fussed on sweet drinks.”

“A cup would be good,” Kit said, knowing that he should be playing nice with her for now, and looked away from her. A moment later she handed him a cup of tea.

Betsy sat opposite him and smiled. “Itʻs been a while, hasnʻt it? How have you been doing since the last time we met?”

“Fine. The Foxes got to the spring championships, Andrew is finally back and sober, and Iʻm still being moved around on the court.” Kit said between sips. “I have nothing to complain about, yet.”

“Congratulations on qualifying, by the way,” Betsy said. “I will confess, I don’t understand much about sport, but you have very talented players on your team and the teamʻs comeback this year was nothing short of brilliant. I think that you’re going to have an amazing run during the spring finals. Texas is a little far for me to travel, but I’ll be cheering you on for the home game against Belmonte. Are you ready?”

“Mostly?” Kit answered, “We still have a ways to go, but we’re getting there. We have to get there, we don’t have a choice. Last month we said we weren’t going to lose a single spring game. None of us have or will change our minds on that, but I think now that January is here we’re starting to properly realise what we are going to have to do to pull this off and just how hard we are going to need to work. The Foxes are going to face some of the best teams in the country, as we are only recent contenders to win, it’s going to be hard but I think that we can manage.”

“That’s a very mature way to be looking at this. It is also,” Betsy paused for a moment trying to find the right words. “Practiced. That sounds like something you would tell to a reporter rather than something that you might admit to me. I hoped that we would have been able to progress from such guarded statements. Remember that I am not here to cut judgement on anything that you have to say.”

“I know,” Kit said, putting his cup down. “You should be lucky that I’m talking at all.” He leaned back more into the seat.

Betsy frowned a little before going to move on. “You mentioned Andrew’s return was a positive thing. I know that you and Neil just supported my decision to commit him last November. It is probably too soon to tell, how are you handling the reality of his sobriety? Do you have any concerns?”

“It is a good thing,” Kit started before crossing his arms, “but I will not be talking about Andrew with you.”

“I am trying to talk about you,” Betsy said. “This session is about you, no one else.”

“You and I both know that this isn’t a real session, Shrink,” Kit said. “This is an informational meeting and I’m only here because Coach said we had to come and see you once a semester. Neither of us gain or benefit anything from this. You’re wasting your time on me, when you could be helping someone that actually needs it and I am missing out on practice.”

“I do not consider this a waste of time, but I do apologize that this is cutting into your time on the court.” Betsy wanted to say more, but decided against it. She waited for a couple of moments, to see if he would answer before saying, “Happy New Year, by the way. I forgot to say it first off. How were Neil and your holidays?”

That was it, that was the question that Kit was both expecting and dreading. He didnʻt know if Wymack or Abby had told her anything or even if Andrew or Kevin mentioned anything. Kit wouldnʻt tell her the truth, but if he started lying and someone had told her the truth, sheʻd start questioning everything that both he and Neil had told her up to this point. Neil and Kit had a talk about what to say the other night when Matt was off doing something with Dan, Kit sat there for a moment weighing up the options but ultimately decided to go for it. Remembering that he was going to have to tell Neil. He wasnʻt going to be seeing Betsy face-to-face after this meeting; seeing as he was only required to see her once a semester. She could have whatever opinion of him that she liked, it wouldnʻt matter much longer,

“They went fine,” Kit said.

“Does it ever snow in Arizona?”

“Rarely? Every now and then. They consider a few inches to be a major snow storm.”

“Oh my,” Betsy said. “I remember when we had a dusting of snow a few years back. I passed a young woman on my way across campus. She was on her phone to someone; she had called them just to tell them that it was snowing here. She was so excited over such a light amount I wondered if she had ever seen snow before. I felt like asking her where she was from, but it seemed a bit intrusive.”

There wasnʻt a follow up question, so Kit didnʻt add anything onto the conversation. All he did was grab his tea off of the table and start sipping at it again, counting the seconds that the two of them sat there in silence sipping at their drinks. Kit knew that time was passing slowly, but he also knew that he couldnʻt look at the clock.

“Won’t you talk to me?” Betsy finally prompted.

“What would you like me to say, Shrink?” Kit asked.

“Anything that is on your mind,” Betsy replied. “This is your time.”

“Anything?” Kit said. Once she gave him an overly enthusiastic nod, Kit proceeded to tell her random things, ranging from UT’s strategies to Edgar Allans’ strategies and even to the Australian national team’s strategies. It was something that wasn’t personal at all, and was more like common knowledge to people that followed the sport. It wasn’t what Betsy was hoping for, Kit could tell, but she didn’t interrupt and didn’t have the good grace to look bored. She drank her cocoa and listened like it was the most important story that she had heard all day. Somehow this made Kit like her even less, but that didn’t stop him from going on and on like a reporter just asked him what are some of the best Exy stratigies.

As soon as their time was up, Kit walked out to the waiting room and Andrew was already up waiting. The trio made it back to the car and headed back over to the court in silence, but there were unspoken words in the glances that were shared between them. They arrived just in time to see the rest of the Foxes come in from warm ups, Kevin and Andrew split off to get into their warm up gear and Kit just stood to the side watching them go off.

Wymack was part way through telling Neil that he and Kit can afford to have a few days off, when he spotted Kit watching the rest of the Foxes come out with their gear on. “Kit, stop watching them and get your ass over here. Take notes.”

Kit groaned and sat down next to Neil, a frown set on his lips. “I wanna train Coach, I hate theory.”

“Can neither of you understand that I’m saying? It won’t kill the both of you to sit down for a few days. But it would kill you both if you pull something and injure yourself beyond repair. And I would be killing the both of you if we got eliminated because you were too impatient,” Wymack said, looking between the brothers. “It doesn’t matter if your teammates have different strengths then you, they are playing catch up after two weeks of not training.

“You are both playing so much better than you were in May, don’t sell yourselves short. Now focus on the matches, I expect good notes from the both of you today.” Wymack continued as he got up.

Neil handed Kit a pencil, and both brothers watched as Wymack left them to watch the game.

Halfway through their discussion on the second game, it was time for Neil to Reddin with Aaron. They were both paired up to go third. Kit had told Neil earlier that he told Betsy that they had a ʻniceʻ holiday. Kit made sure to watch Neil and Aaron walk out, before turning his attention back to UTʻs game and note taking.

Kit was able to get through just over half a game before Neil and Aaron made it back from Reddin. Aaron looked to Kit as he continued on to the locker room to get changed back into his uniform while Neil sat down on the couch next to Kit and looked over the notes that he had written while he was gone. Kit felt some form of resentment towards Aaron for his good health, feeling an itch to get up and go and train with the team. Neil unpausing the game caught Kitʻs attention, and the two distracted themselves for a moment by UTʻs game, but both of them lost concentration on the game when Renee and Allison walked through a couple of minutes later.

Once Neil paused the game and called out to Renee, Kit decided to move to one of the other couches, getting the feeling that Neil wanted to talk to her. Once Kit had gotten out of his spot, Renee took it and looked at Neil. Allison stopped when Reneeʻs name was called out but ultimately moved on out of the room, knowing that Renee was able to handle herself in a conversation. Kit turned his attention back to the notes in front of him, fixing a few things up and adding things to them as Neil and Renee started talking.

Neil asked about the whole knife reaction, and Renee flicked a glance over to Kit, she would have thought that he would have told Neil about their conversation. But it seems like he didnʻt. Kit didnʻt make too much of an effort to listen into the conversation, focusing on twirling his pen in his finger, only picking up on the conversation when Neil mentioned Andrewʻs name.

“-Andrew doing? Without his drugs, I mean.”

Renee must have seen this catch Kitʻs attention because she looked at him as she walked past before looking back at Neil. “Go and see. I donʻt think that Coach will mind if you both go.”

Both Neil and Kit stayed in their seats until the door closed behind her. Kit looked down at the notepad in his hands before putting it to the side, getting to his feet and walking over to Neil to help him up to his. The sound of a ball popping off the wall and yelling that could only be from Kevin, greeted them when they stepped through the back door and they followed the path of the inner court. Wymack was standing near the home bench, watching his players scrimmage and taking notes on their performances. He had his back to the brothers and the noise filtering through the court vents helped hide the soft pat of their footsteps. Neil and Kit stopped a safe distance back and watched their teammates.

They looked so small when they were down four players, but they played with the determination and brutality of a much larger team. Dan and Kevin were paired up on the offence against three backliners, and despite being outnumbered they fought back with a tireless effort. Kevin even managed to out step both Nicky and Aaron a couple of times to have a shot on goal. Every shot that he made Andrew smashed away, but it only took Neil and Kit a couple of shots to realise what he was doing. Instead of clearing the ball from the goal and back down the court like usual, he was firing them back at Kevin. More specifically, right at Kevin’s feet. Kevin had to execute some pretty nimble footwork to avoid being tripped over by the ball, earning a bit of yelling and harsh words from Kevin. Andrew did the same to Dan when she finally bulled past Matt for a shot on the goal. She was able to side step it, but barely, and Matt had to catch her when she stumbled.

Wymack swore and turned to put his things down on the bench. As he twisted he spotted Neil and Kit, and he hesitated with his clipboard halfway to the bench. Kit was ready to hear a marching order back to the locker room, and Neil was ready for one as well. Instead Wymack snapped his fingers at the brothers and jerked his thumb back to the court door.

“Tell your pet psycho to knock it off before he cripples somebody, also tell Kevin to knock it off with screaming at everybody.”

“I donʻt think that either of them will listen to either of us,” Neil said.

“You and I both know that they listen. Now get.”

Wymack pounded on the wall, calling a pause for the scrimmage, as Neil and Kit headed for the door. 

“I will talk to Kevin, you to Andrew,” Kit whispered as he opened the door. “Will be over when I am done with Kev.”

Neil just gave his brother a thumbs up as he walked onto the court, heading over to the goal housing a very uninterested Andrew with his racquet over his shoulders. Kevin wasnʻt far away from the goal so it was going to be a short walk over there. Kit walked right up to Kevin and crossed his arms over his chest and raised an eyebrow at him.

Kevin stared at him for a short moment before saying, “Why are you over here? Why are you even on the court? Did Abby clear you?”

“No Kev, Abby did not clear me. Coach wants ya to shut your mouth,” Kit smiled. “Donʻt go pestering them just because they werenʻt on the court every day of the break. People are allowed to have breaks.”

“Thatʻs wise coming from you, who wants to get back onto the court, injured,” Kevin replied. “Besides, college athletes should be training everyday, there is no excuse for not practicing everyday.” Kevin looked over the rest of the Foxes that were still on the court.

Kit sighed and pulled Kevin down by the front of his shirt to whisper. “Kev, they werenʻt raised like us. They want to try and be normal and they want to have time off to do things. So donʻt get snappy if they are a bit rusty okay? Do you really need me to bring my brother over here to help convince you that the way to make this team listen to you isnʻt to yell at them? I mean I can get Neil over here to rip into you for not knowing that by now, if you want.” Kit took a step beck, waiting for a response from Kevin. 

Satisfied getting a nod and a ʻfine, whateverʻ from a slightly red in the face Kevin, Kit gave him a satisfied nod before heading over to Neil and Andrew. Kit walked slowly over, trying to gauge why Kevin was getting red in the face, but he shook it off as he came up next to Neil.

“I donʻt believe in giving people chances,” Andrew said, glancing at Kit.

“I didnʻt until we came here,” Neil said, acknowledging Kit’s arrival. “We both took a chance on you when we decided to stay. You took a chance on me, on Kit, when you trusted the both of us with Kevin. Is it really that hard to support them when theyʻve been with you every step of the way?”

“What will the both of you give me in exchange for my cooperation?” Andrew asked. 

“So revenge on ʻthe Kingʻ isnʻt good enough?” Kit asked.

“What would it take?” Neil asked. 

Andrew didnʻt even have to think about his answer. “Both of you, show me your scars.”

Kit froze for a moment not expecting that request, which was probably why Andrew asked for it. His arm twitched with the want to hold onto Neil, but he stopped himself knowing that he needed to start looking after himself plus the fact that Neil was still hurt. Kit wanted to protest but the words seemed to have gotten caught in his throat. Wymack and Abby had seen them already, Kevin had seen his old ones years ago and the rest of the Foxes knew that they were there. Kit let Andrew feel the scars on his forearms so he wouldnʻt feel so alone and isolated, and he let Andrew feel more of his ruined skin to earn his trust alongside Neil. Both Neil and Kit promised Andrew missing parts of their truths if they both survived the year. But neither of them thought that Andrew would settle for the visuals.

“When?” Both Neil and Kit said after a moment of thinking.

“We are going to Columbia tomorrow,” Andrew said. “Now walk away and tell Coach to mind his pay grade. I will not let him get away with this a second time.”

Kit didnʻt understand what he meant, but both brothers agreed and left the court. The Foxes waited until the door was shut before continuing the play. The next time Kevin managed a shot on goal, Andrew cleared it all the way down the court. Kit and Neil had a gut feeling the Foxes will regret their intervention soon enough. It was a lot safer after their talk, but now Dan and Kevin had to chase the ball everytime Andrew deflected it, and Kevin wasn’t yelling at anyone for any small mistakes they were making.

They both went back to Wymackʻs side and Neil relayed the message. Kit expected Wymack to brush off Andrewʻs threat like he normally would. He wasnʻt expecting Wymackʻs amused huff and dry, “Just promise me that this isnʻt going to be a problem.”

“What?” Neil asked.

“That whatʻs not going to be a problem?” Kit questioned.

“I canʻt tell if you both are being obtuse to fuck with me or if youʻre both really that dumb,” Wymack said. When Neil and Kit just stared blankly back at him, Wymack rubbed his temples as if he was trying to ward off a headache. “I would pity the two of you, but Andrewʻs right. I donʻt get paid enough to get involved in this. Figure it out yourselves- on your own time. You both are supposed to be studying UT right now.”

Wymack plucked up his clipboard and started scribbling notes. Neil looked from him to the court, while Kit looked down at the hallway.

“Goodbye,” Wymack said, not looking at the two of them.

Kit frowned, leaving his questions unsaid as both he and Neil headed back to the locker room.

-

Kit was a bit upset when Friday came, and Abby told him that he would have to wait till at least Tuesday to start training again.

All of the upperclassmen were going out to dinner Friday after their practice, but they all swung by the dorms to get changed into fresh clothes. Andrew showed up at Neil and Kit’s room almost as soon as Matt had left, he had brought two bags of clothes with him. Kit was honestly thankful for the new clothes every time that they went to Columbia, all he wondered about was who picked the clothes and how the hell they were the perfect size. Kit stayed at his desk a bit longer with the bag of clothes sitting next to him, as he was trying to finish something for his linguistics class. Neil headed to the bedroom to start getting changed as Andrew followed him, to get his answers Kit guessed and he knew that he could trust Andrew with Neil, he knew that he wouldnʻt do anything to hurt him.

Kit soon enough gave up on his work after a few minutes and grabbed his bag and went to the bathroom, seeing that the bedroom door was still closed meaning Andrew and Neil were still in there. He closed the bathroom door behind him, but stopped himself from locking it as he placed the bag on the toilet. He struggled a bit when he started taking his shirt off, but it was getting a lot easier for him to move his shoulder properly. The bedroom door could be heard opening and shutting, and footsteps went down the hall. Kit paused for a moment before pulling off the tape from his shoulder before the door to the bathroom opened. Kit turned around and saw Andrew stepping in, him not taking his eyes off of Kit’s battered and bruised form.

Andrew shut the door, letting Kit have the time to finish pulling the strapping tape off of his healing shoulder. Once all of the tape was thrown into a corner, Andrew stepped closer, reaching and pulling the tape off of Kit’s neck and one of his wrists, letting him have a good look at the armbands that he had stolen back. Kit caught a glimpse of the scabs, they were looking a little worse than when he and Neil arrived back in South Carolina.

“Stole them,” Kit said, pulling his mostly healed wrist away, only to have Andrew take it back and pull the arm bands off himself. 

Kit forced himself to calm his heartbeat down as Andrew inspected the rigid skin and scarring on his forearms. He looked up at Andrew, searching for some sign of something. Kit wasn’t too sure what he was looking for: A hint of Wednesdayʻs violence or last semester’s callous, cheerful dismissals. He got nothing. Andrew’s mind seemed to be a thousand miles away from all of this, detached and unconcerned. 

On Kit’s left shoulder were two burn scars, both times courtesy of getting smacked with a hot iron, while short white scars were spread out on his collar bones. Andrew put his right hand to it once he saw that Kit was breathing steadily, fingertips lining up perfectly with the raised bumps the iron’s holes had left behind. His left thumb found one of the shittly healed stab wounds that was caused by a throwing knife. 

“Someone shot you.” Andrew said, raising an eyebrow. A tell that he was a little unsure of himself.

“No, that oneʻs Neil,” Kit answered. “Throwing knife. Told you that someone was after us.”

“These,” Andrew clenched his hand hard over the iron burns, “are not from the life on the run,” Andrew’s free hand gripped tightly into Kit’s forearm, “and neither are these.”

“Father gave them both to me. Some people came knocking and asking him questions about his work. I didn’t say a word, but I wasn’t still enough, either. He hit Neil with it and then me as soon as they closed the door. The second one was because I tried to refuse to do something. Even though I don’t have the same name as that man, I don’t want to be called what he named me, that’s why I gave you the name ‘Elijah’,” Kit said, his mind going to the times that he was ford to do horrible things by his ʻfatherʻ for the sake of survival. “That man deserves to be dead.”

Andrew was quiet for a long time, then dropped his hand to one of the larger scars on Kit’s side. His fingers gliding across the rigid skin. “Renee said that you refused our knives, even though you were interested in them. A murder magnet like you and your brother shouldn’t be walking around unarmed.”

“I thought that you had my back this year, besides I donʻt think that me having a knife would be a good idea,” Kit said. The expression that Andrew had on his face when he looked up at Kit was unreadable. He said nothing, so Kit continued, “You arenʻt a sociopath like they all say, are you?”

“I never said that I was.”

“But you let them continue to say that you are one,” Kit said. “Why did you never say anything about it?”

Andrew waved it off. “What people think of me isnʻt my problem.”

“The medicine that you were on,” Kit started. “They werenʻt anti-psychotics. I feel like you are one of the most stable minded people I have met.”

“You make a lot of wild assumptions,” Andrew said, and left Kit alone to finish getting changed.

Once Kit finished putting his new clothes on he found Neil in the living room waiting for him. They went into the hallway to find Andrewʻs lot there waiting for them. Nick gave them a toothy grin of approval at how their new clothes fit them and what the new clothes were. Aaron didnʻt so much as look in their direction. Kevin checked both brotherʻs makeup, making sure that there was no smudging before they left, but didn’t say a word to either of them, he didnʻt need to though because his facial expressions said it all. Andrew only waited long enough to hear the lock slide into place and started for the stairs. He had three cigarettes lit before he reached the second floor, one was between his lips as he passed two over his shoulders for Neil and Kit. Kit took his, as did Neil, and he put it between his lips.

Nicky sent both of them an odd look as he opened the back door. “You two donʻt smoke.”

“No,” Neil agreed as he stubbed his out on his shoe, pocketing the other half for later. He got into the car before Nicky could ask anymore questions.

As Kit pulled his out of his lips to answer Kevin grabbed it out of his hand, stomping it out on the ground. “He doesnʻt.” 

Nicky shrugged it off and climbed into the car after Aaron, Kevin climbed in allowing Kit to have the door. Kit partly sat on Kevin, Kevin knew not to touch him and Kit was grateful for it. Once all of the doors were closed Andrew had them on their way to Columbia.

Kit would have been happy to have never stepped foot near Columbia ever again in his life, after everything that happened in November, but he knew that he had to get over it, all of the others seemed unmoved by being here again but he knew deep down that they still had fears about being here. They pulled into the parking lot at Sweetieʻs like the last time they were here, when nothing bad happened and took the first booth that was available. Kit was having a small conversation with Kevin while Nicky rambled in length about all of his classes, Neil wasnʻt really able to pin point any of the words that anyone at the table was saying. Kit ate his ice cream as he started on talking about one of the songs that he was trying to write to Nicky who wanted to know more details about the one that he was working on when he dropped by.

Edenʻs Twilight was as busy as usual. One bouncer sat on a stool, checking IDs while the other guarded the doorway. The former actually hopped up to his feel upon seeing Andrewʻs car at the curb. Neil and Kit hung back as Nicky and Aaron endured vigorous handshakes and back slaps. One of the bouncers said something to Aaron, voice slow but expression intense. Kit assumed it was a promise to support him in the upcoming trial, judging by Aaron’s grateful nod. He looked back at Andrew, who was waiting in the driver's seat for a VIP parking pass, but Andrew was watching oncoming traffic instead of the spectacle at the door. Nicky finally got a pass from one of the bounces and brought it back to him.

Andrew drove off while the others headed inside. Kit followed Neil and Kevin through the crowd, pushing past overheated bodies and wincing a bit at the harshness of the bass booming through the speakers. There weren’t any open tables, so they ended up against the bar counter. It took no time at all for Roland to spot them and he almost dropped his cocktail shaker once he did. As soon as he finished his orders he made a beeline for the group.

“I’ll be damned,” he said. “I was starting to think I would never see any of you guys again.”

“As if we could stay away forever,” Nicky said. “It just wouldn’t be the same coming here without Andrew.”

“Andrew’s out, then?” Roland asked with obvious relief. “It killed us when we heard the news. I wish we could have done something, anything. You,” he said talking to Aaron, “are a hero. We’ve got your back here, understand? They try to make any of these bullshit charges stick and we’ll march on the court. The guy got what he deserved and everyone knows it.”

“Thank you,” Aaron said.

Roland poured a round of shots. He had seen Neil a dozen times before and knew that he didn’t drink, but he still put a shot halfway between himself and Neil in case Neil was feeling celebratory. Kit fought the urge to take his brother's shot, but decided against it after he downed his own. Roland had a second round ready to go by the time Andrew caught up with them. Andrew slid neatly into the narrow gap between Kit and Neil.

“Welcome back to the land of the free,” Roland said. “I’d say ‘and the sober’, but I know that wouldn’t last long. Cheers.”

Everyone downstairs shorts with ease. Roland started setting up the usual drinks tray. As he was halfway done a table finally opened up. Both Neil and Kit stayed behind with Andrew while the others went to claim the table. Andrew downed Neil’s shot when he saw it just sitting there. Roland paused between drinks to refill it. This time he slid it a little closer to Neil.

“Let loose a bit. This is a special occasion,” Roland said.

“You know that my brother doesn’t drink, stop pushing him to drink,” Kit said crossing his arms, not liking that Roland keeps trying to get Neil to drink even though he had said multiple times that he doesnʻt.

“This is on a special occasion, it’s the end of seven weeks of hard work,” Neil said waving his brother off.

Andrew didn’t waste his breath arguing. He downed Neil’s second shot and Roland didn’t bother to pour Neil a third. When Roland was finished mixing the drinks, Neil and Kit made a path for Andrew to carry the tray to their table. Nicky, Aaron and Kevin went through their portion of the drinks like there was a time restriction, while Kit took his time, but Andrew went through his proportion of the drinks slower then Neil and Kit had ever seen him. Kit took a break from drinking as he thought that there was a high chance that Aaron and Nicky had never seen Andrew drunk, because he always knew where his limits were, well that’s what Andrew told both of them last year.

The cousins and Kevin knocked back the cracker dust as a group, after that Aaron and Nicky vanished. Kevin kept making a massive indent into the drinks. Andrew watched the crowd along with a few glances at Kevin as he sipped his drink at a snail’s pace. Kit also slowed down on his drinking, not wanting to get overly drunk that night, he didn’t know how to keep himself occupied if he did drink a lot more. Once Neil started trading the empty glasses littering the table for the full ones on the trade, Kit got up and followed him as he headed to the bar. Roland took it from Neil as soon as he was able to. Neil crossed his arms onto the Bar counter, leaning against it, as Kit rested his elbow on it and both brothers watched Roland mix the next batch of drinks.

“The both of you? Andrew finally gave in, huh?” Roland said. “Both of them look pretty bad.”

Kit raised an eyebrow and went to reach for his face, but Roland was looking between his and Neil’s wrists. Kit’s new jacket was made out of a thin and breathable marital and the short sleeved shirt underneath was made of a similar material. His armbands were covering his forearms but that didnʻt stop some of the horrid bruising from showing up onto his hand. Kit felt his heart rate jump as he pulled his sleeve down to cover the bruising on his hands, he glanced over at Neil panicking a little bit but pulled his sleeves over his wrists all the same. Once Kitʻs panic died down he realized that the rumble in Rolandʻs voice was all checked laughter.

Roland stopped pouring drinks for a moment and held his hands up, giving an apologetic grin when both Neil and Kit frowned up at him. “Iʻd wondered if being clean would cure his hands-off rule. Makes sense that it wouldnʻt now that we know about..” Roland shook his hands and visibly pushed his anger back. “I donʻt know weather to say ʻthanksʻ for easing my curiosity or ʻsorryʻ that sobriety has obviously exacerbated the problem. Just for the two of you to know, there are padded cuffs. You both should be looking into them.”

“The problem,” Neil echoed, lost. “What hands-off rule?”

Kit hesitated for a moment, trying to think about what Roland was referring to. Kit knew that Andrew didnʻt like being touched but- “Wait, you didnʻt follow what Andrew wanted and went against what he was comfortable with?” Kit asked, leaning forward onto the table. “Thatʻs fucking discusting.”

“Hey, itʻs not what you think,” Roland tried to defend himself, but the glare that he was receiving made him stop and turn his gaze to Neil. “But, you really donʻt know..?”

Neil reached over to Kit and held his shoulder tightly before he could open his mouth. “We got these in a fight,” Neil answered. “What would make you think that he did this to either of us?”

“Oh, you really donʻt know,” Roland said, again, not a question this time but an attempt to backpedal out of the conversation. “You know what, both of you, forget that I mentioned or said anything. No, really,” he said when he saw both brothers open their mouths to argue. “Hey, here. Your drinks are done. Iʻve gotta check on the rest of my customers.”

He vanished before either brother could get more than a ʻwhatʻ out. Kit stood there for a moment, watching him, but finding no proper explanation. Kit grabbed the tray with unsteady hands and followed Neil back to the table. He wanted to punch Roland, even though he didn't fully understand what went on between the two of them, but nothing excuses doing something that someone is uncomfortable with, and nothing excuses continuing to do it once you have been told to stop. Kit sat in his stop between Kevin and Neil.

Watching as Neil sat sideways in his chair, facing Andrew, and said in German, “Why does Roland think that you are tying me and my brother down?” Kit turned his attention to Andrew as well to watch his reaction.

Andrew hesitated with his glass halfway up to his lips. He glanced down at Neilʻs hands, that were clenched on the edge of the seat between his knees, before glancing at Kitʻs wrists that sat on the table. Kit didnʻt care if the bruising was showing because he knew that the scars could not be seen. At length Andrew put his shot back down on the tray. He didnʻt let go of it, keeping his fingers on the rim, tapping an uneven beat. It seemed like an eternity before Andrew pulled his gaze away from their hands, and up to their faces.

“Presumably he thinks that you both are as bad at following directions as he is,” Andrew answered. “Roland knows that I don’t like being touched.”

“Asshole got what he deserved then,” Kit growled out, crossing his arms over his chest.

Neil looked to his brother before looking back at Andrew and saying, “that doesn’t answer my question.”

“It seemed to answer your brother's question,” Andrew said. “Rephrase your question if you don’t like it.”

“My turn,” Kit said before Neil could say anything, earning him a harsh glare from Neil as he leaned forward over the table. “What is exactly above Coach’s pay grade?”

Andrew shifted in his seat to face Neil and Kit, while he propped his elbow up on the back of his chair. He cradled his face in his hand and considered both of them. He didn’t seem phased by the sudden interrogation, he seemed overly calm about the whole thing. That calmness wasn’t doing anything to ease the slowly increasing heart rates of both of them.

“When Coach signed us, he promised to stay out of our personal problems. He said the board paid him to be our coach, nothing more and nothing less.”

That answer didn’t feel any more like an answer then the other, the difference with this one is that Kit had no clue. He was stumped for words, how can this be a personal problem. Neil was the first of the two to find his words, and said, “I didn’t think that anything to do with either of us is counted as a personal problem. You hate us, remember?”

“Every inch of the both of you,” Andrew said. “That doesn’t mean I wouldn’t blow you.”

The world felt like it was going blurry. Kit dug his fingers into his forearms, trying to stop the world from going out of focus. “You, you like us? What about Kevin?”

“I hate you both, just like I hate Kevin,” Andrew corrected Kit, but both Neil and Kit had barely heard him.

For a split second, he felt like he understood. All of the promises that still remained unbroken, to look after him so he can keep guard of Neil. He thought of the times when Andrew held him up when he needed it the most, he remembered the causal touches as a reminder that he was here. Andrew had called both of them dangerous and interesting and had given them keys to his house and car. He’d trusted both him and Neil with Kevin because Andrew could see how much Kevin meant to them, and he knew that they wouldn’t let him down.

Kit tried to put the pieces together, but the faster that he tired, the faster everything seemed to crumble apart in his head. None of it made sense. He didn’t know what he was meant to think, because of whatever Kevin and Andrew had going. Then again Kevin had a close eye on Neil. But this could still be a lie, but Kit knew deep down that it wasn’t. Andrew was a lot of unpleasant things, but a pathological liar was not one of them. Honesty suited Andrew because he was the instigator at heart and his opinions are often unpopular.

Neil was the first to find his voice after three tries. “You never said anything.” 

“Why should I have?” Andrew lifted one shoulder in a shrug. “Nothing will come of it, from either of you.”

“Nothing,” Kit echoed once he found his voice.

“I am self-destructive, not stupid,” Andrew said. “I know better. I canʻt speak for Kevin.”

Kit looked at Kevin who had caught his name in the conversation one too many times to not be trying to figure out what was being said. Kit didnʻt know what he was meant to do with a truth like this. He was going to be dead in four months, five if he and Neil were lucky. After he left, he wasnʻt meant to be anything to anyone besides Neil, Andrew least of all. Andrew had said all year long- said it to both his and Neilʻs faces just this week- that he wanted nothing. Neither Kit nor Neil should be an exception to that rule.

Andrew downed his shot and dropped the glass carelessly back onto the tray. He pried his cigarette pack out of his back pocket on his way to his feet and flicked it open to check the contents. 

Kitʻs mind was distracted as he was trying to work out what was going on, why Andrew said what he did to them. Trying to figure out how things made sense because anytime that he tried to piece together anything that had happened. But everything fell apart anytime he thought that he had something figured out. 

It wasnʻt until Kevin put his hand on Kitʻs shoulder that he realized that he was not paying attention to a single thing that was going on around him. Kit jumped as he turned to face Kevin pulling his hand back like he was about to punch him, only to put it down on the table when he saw who it was. Kevin frowned seeing that he had gotten a similar reaction from Neil. He handed Kit a drink, who drank it immediately.

“Kit,” Kevin leaned closer to Kit but stayed a comfortable distance from him, whispering in Japanese. “You alright?”

“Andrew,” Kit muttered, grabbing onto the front of Kevinʻs shirt tightly. “He- you- us- I donʻt know anymore, Kev. He-.” Kit stopped himself and took another drink, he couldnʻt find his words, his brain was going too fast for his lips to catch up.

Kevin was even more confused to say the least, but didnʻt push it when he saw the look on Kitʻs face. Kevin stayed where he was, letting Kit lean onto him as they kept drinking. Neil was watching the two of them, a little confused. When Kevin leaned he was slightly leaning onto his shoulder he didnʻt do anything about it, he actually leaned into him just a touch remembering a small part of what Andrew said.

It was about an hour before Andrew returned to them. He didnʻt say anything to them, but raised an eyebrow at the whole situation that was going on between Kevin, Kit and Neil, he didnʻt care though. Aaron and Nicky eventually found their way back, drunk and exhausted, and they left together. The cousinsʻ house wasnʻt far, but there wasnʻt enough beds for all six of them. Kevin followed Andrew upstairs, so Kit gave Neil the couch and Kit curled up in one of the chairs with the spare blankets.

It was hours before he could quiet his mind enough before he was able to get to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi all! I hope that you like the changes and development made in this chapter!
> 
> Love all of ya that are still reading this!


	4. Chapter 4: More Like A Pair Of Raccoons Than Foxes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kevin and Andrew learn something, the girls find out what is under the brothersʻ bandages, and Katelyn realizes that she needs to fight for her relationship with Aaron.

On Monday Kevin started up his night practices again, but he refused to allow Kit and Neil to come along even to watch. On Tuesday afternoon Abby reluctantly gave Neil the all clear to get back onto the court, while also giving Kit the okay to join again as well, under the conditions that they wouldnʻt push themselves too hard in anything that they were doing, in fear that they would injure themselves even more. Neil barely stuck around long enough to hear the okay before grabbing Kit by his sleeve and going to change into their gear. The Foxes were already on the court, since Abby had shown up almost two hours late to practice, but Dan called a halt to dills as soon as Neil and Kit thumped on the wall and door. She and Matt greeted their arrival with triumphant whoops. Nicky clacked sticks with them as they made their way over to Kevin. 

Renee smiled at Kit and waved to Neil as they made their way past. “Good to see you two back.”

“Iʻve been itching to get back on since New Years Day,” Kit said back before reaching Kevin.

“If you canʻt play, donʻt,” Kevin said, sternly. 

“I know, Kevin,” Neil said. “If anything pulls Iʻll step off of the court.”

“I know, I know, Kev,” Kit shook his head, twirling his green and gold racquet. “I know what my limits are and I promise you that I wonʻt be pushing them today.”

Kevin gave the brothers a suspicious look but didnʻt argue back, knowing that Exy meant so much to them and they wouldnʻt do anything too major to mess it up.

For Kit it did hurt, almost immediately, but it also felt like a blessing to finally work out his sore and cramped muscles while also getting back into the swing of everything. Kit made sure not to push himself too hard, but he still pushed himself to his limits because Abby and Wymack were watching both him and Neil from the sidelines. When he had to stop to rub out his shoulder and shake out his leg, he was afraid that Abby might pull him off of the court. Neither of them did, they didnʻt pull Neil off when he had to stretch either, so both of the brothers went back to the game with vengeance. Afterward Wymack sat them all down in the locker room to go over the highs and the lows of the day.

When he was done he looked at Neil and Kit and said, “Well?”

“Iʻm fine,” Neil answered, leaning away from the death glare that Kevin was giving him and said, “If I wasnʻt sore right now, Iʻd be worried, but itʻs not enough to be a problem. I can pass off the wall if overhand shots start pulling hard on my stitches.”

“All good on my end,” Kit said with one hand on his strapped up shoulder. “I am sore, but like Neil said, if I wasnʻt sore now I would be worried. I just got to make sure that I strap my knee up properly, and if my shoulders becomes an actual problem I can just and switch hands.”

“Was that really too hard to say first, for either of you?” Dan asked wryly.

“We did say it the first time around,” Neil answered. “We’re fine.”

“The word that you’re both looking for is ‘hopeless’ and ‘obsessed’,” Nicky said, grinning.

“All right,” Wymack said. “Neil, Kit, you’re at the gym tomorrow. Go easy for a few days, would you both? Change the circuit as needed and let me know what doesn’t work for either of you. Injure yourself here, not there.” Wymack had to notice the dirty look that Abby shot him, but he didn’t acknowledge it. “That’s it for today, then. Pack up and move out.”

They washed up and headed back to the dorm. Kit wanted to follow Renee into her room but decided against it when Dan motioned for him to follow her, Matt and Neil into their room. She saw that both Josten brothers knew to stay; she sat on the couch and hugged her knees to her chest.

“So that’s it, it’s life back to the ‘normal’,” Dan said. “Us and them, I mean. It was fun last month, wasn’t it? I liked all the team dinners and nights out.”

“Feels like we’re right back where we started in August,” Matt agreed.

“If we knew what and you had against us, we could try to find it,” Dan said. She drummed an uneven rhythm on her knee, then looked at Neil and Kit. “How did you get Kevin to stop berating us the other day at practice? And how did you get Andrew to stop tripping us up?”

Kit frowned a bit, thinking about the truth before watering it down to the bare minimum to make it that he was still telling the truth. “I told him to stop.”

Neil looked towards his brother before telling the barest truth. “I asked. Kit just came up and asked as well.”

“Kevin listened to you when you told him to stop?” Dan said in some sort of shock in not fully believing that Kit just asked Kevin to stop and he did, because he wouldnʻt listen to a thing that she ever says.

“You asked. You both just asked,” Matt said. It almost sounded like an accusation. “You said that about Halloween and Nicky's parents. Seriously, Neil, Kit. How do you keep talking to him into doing things he obviously doesn’t want to do? Is it bribery or blackmail?”

Dan flicked Matt and undecipherable look and said, “No pressure, you two. No bullshit. Andrew’s sober now and I know that’s a real game changer. But would you two be able to bring them back to us?”

“I don’t know,” Neil admitted. “We can try, but I donʻt think that trying will bring much luck.”

“If you really want us to bring them back, Aaron is holding them back as much as Andrew is. Nicky wants to be your friend and Kevin knows that the team works so much better as a whole, but Aaron is almost as deadset against the rest of us as Andrew is,” Kit started, crossing his arms as he looked between Matt and Dan. “We all know that Aaron has been hiding Katelyn from Andrew, if he continues to side with Andrew it means continuing to do so. If Aaron is willing to hide her the rest of the time that he’s here, it isn’t just Andrew's decision.”

Dan looked thoughtful. “Katelyn has to know something. No self-respecting girl would put up with this unless there was a really good reason. If she won’t talk, do you think that you could rustle something out of Aaron, Matt? You said he’s been better since Christmas, right?”

“It’s worth a shot,” Matt said. “Coach gave you our tutor schedules yet?”

“There somewhere on my desk,” Dan said. “As soon as I unearth it I’ll text you his hours.”

“All right. I’ll see if I can’t hunt him down there.”

“Let me try Katelyn first,” Dan said. She shifted to pull her phone out of her pocket and typed a quick message. I don’t want Aaron telling her we’re getting nosy. Matt noted, but then I was watching her phone like she could will a response from it.

“If this starts to get way too personal between Andrew and Aaron, count me out on this one,” Kit said, earning a look from everyone. “What? I am not one to push or force people into something that they are uncomfortable with. It’s clear that neither of them actually talk to each-.”

Kit was cut off by a ding on Dan’s phone. Dan texted back-and-forth with Katelyn a few times, then got to her feet. “If you don’t want to get too involved if it gets personal, that’s fine. I’m going out for a bit. Might be awhile, so eat without me. Wish me luck?”

“Luck,” Neil said as Matt kissed her goodbye.

Neil, Matt and Kit ended up eating dinner with Renee and Allison in the girlsʻ room. Kit stayed a bit further away from everyone, talking to Renee as Allison forced everyone to watch the horrible movie that she wanted to watch and had been talking about nonstop all day. Kit didnʻt pay attention to the movie, rather whispering to Renee about a few things for the season and music things that he was working on. She didnʻt mind as the movie was one that she was forced to watch a short while ago. Kevin came for them in the last fifteen minutes, saving them from the horrid acting and their annoying voices. They met Andrew at the car.

Andrew sprawled himself out on the couch as soon as he walked into the lounge while Kevin went ahead to get changed. Kit started after Kevin, itching to get back into his night training, he made it all of the way to the door before he realized that Neil wasnʻt following and stayed behind with Andrew. Neil waved Kit off, mouthing ‘come back when you're done’. Kit nodded and followed Kevin into the changing room. The two started changing out, Kevin knew about the damage that was done to him before he ran away, he also knew better than to look before Kit had his jersey and armor.

“Kit,” Kevin said, as he started putting on his shoes. “What happened last Friday? I want you to make sure that you leave all of that off of the court and focus on Exy. I donʻt want your problems with Andrew to start affecting you on the court.”

Kit sighed pulling up his shorts. “It was something that Andrew said. You know that when it comes to Exy everything else stays off of the court,” Kit said, sitting on the bench next to Kevin. “How come I didn’t notice? He never said anything. You never said anything.”

Kevin paused, mid way through tying up his shoes. “What are you talking about?”

“Why didn’t you say anything Kevin? To me or to Neil. Andrew said he didn’t because he knew that nothing would come of it, that he wasn’t stupid but that he couldn’t speak for you. But why not mention something, especially when Andrew said that he feels the same.”

Kevin sat there for a moment, trying to figure out what Kit was referring to before it clicked. “He mentioned that?” Kevin asked, standing up, once he got a head nod from Kit, he sighed. “I knew that nothing would come from it Kit. You know why I donʻt want to do anything, I just canʻt.”

Kit frowned. He knew what Kevin was talking about, the waver in his voice gave it away. If Kit was the one in Kevinʻs spot, knowing what he did, Kit wouldnʻt even bother and just brush everything off. Going back to giving Exy all one hundred percent. “How long, Kev?”

“It doesnʻt matter. Just hurry up and finish getting ready, weʻve already wasted too much time in here. And Neil still hasnʻt come in to change out.”

“Kevin. How long.” Kit stood up once he finished his shoes, standing close enough to have to fully look up at Kevin to see his face.

Kevin didnʻt say anything but look down at Kit. Something was written on his face but it wasnʻt anything that Kit had seen from Kevin before. Kevin frowned and took a step back, he didnʻt fully know what he was feeling.

“A while.” Kevin took another step back, putting more space between them. “Letʻs go. We have wasted too much time. If we are here, we are here to train.”

Something didnʻt feel right ending the conversation like that, he still couldnʻt believe Kevin when it came to what Kevin was implying when it came to his feelings for him, it only made sense for him to feel something for Neil. Kit finally got an answer for a question that had been on his mind since Edenʻs, but it only raised more questions than the ones it answered. He was left with a head swirling with unspoken words, and a mind that could not push past what he was told. His feet started moving automatically once he grabbed his racquet and followed Kevin in search of Neil. Neil was in the same position that he was when Kit left him to go and change out with Kevin. When Kevin started moving towards Neil, Kit grabbed his wrist and shook his head.

“Iʻll go over there, Kevin,” Kit said. “Go and start warming up, weʻll be out there in a minute.”

Kit continued to Neil and Andrew, positioning himself half up on the back of the couch. Kevin just groaned in frustration and left. Andrew didnʻt make a move to take his arm away from his eyes, but it was oblivious that he knew that Kit was now there, partly sitting on the couch.

“Iʻm not a striker by choice, either,” Neil said once he was able to hear the door closing. “I was a backliner in little leagues. Riko remembers because I scrimmaged with him, Kevin and Nicholas. He made me play defense with his Ravens over Christmas.”

That comment got Andrew to finally lower his arm off of his face. “Little leagues, he says. I distinctly remember you telling people you learned how to play in Millport. That means that you also played before Millport.”

“Itʻs a particle truth,” Neil said. “I knew how to play Exy. I just didnʻt know how to play offense. I didnʻt want to be a striker, but Coach Hernandes didnʻt have any room on his defense line. It was striker or nothing, and I wanted to play too badly to walk away. Now I canʻt imagine playing anything else. Kit got lucky, he kept pushing and pushing to get onto the team, when someone on the defense line injured themselves he was in.”

“Playing was the only thing that I found interesting at that school,” Kit admitted. “I could not let some shitty high school players play. I had to get onto the team and prove that I could play. Because the team was full, Hernandez made me fill in for whoever was injured or sick, no matter what the position was. I used to play defensive dealer, but I took any position that I could get my hands on. I cannot imagine my life without playing now.”

Andrew said nothing for a minute, then, “Youʻre both more like a pair of raccoons than foxes.”

Kit tilted his head as Neil said, “What?”

“A raccoon,” Andrew said, and mimed holding a ball in front of his face. “Exy is the shiny object in your sad little worlds. You both know that you are being hunted and you know that the hounds are closing in, but neither of you will let go to save yourselves. Neil, you once told me that you donʻt understand why a person would actively try to die, but here you are. I guess that was another lie.”

“Iʻm not trying to die,” Neil said. “This is how I, how we, are staying alive. When Iʻm playing, I feel like I have control over something. I feel like I have the power to change things. I feel more real out there on the court than I ever have anywhere else. The court doesnʻt care what my name is or where Iʻm from or where Iʻll be tomorrow. It lets me exist as I am.”

“It is a court,” Andrew said. “It does not ʻletʻ you do anything.”

“You know what I mean.”

“I donʻt.”

“Because you donʻt have anything, do you?” Kit said, finally speaking up. “Nothing ever gets to you, does it? Nothing ever gets under your skin.”

“They finally catch on, at last,” Andrew mused. “Only took them a year.”

“What are you afraid of?” Neil asked.

“Heights.”

“Andrew.”

“If either of you make Kevin come looking for you, you will regret it.”

Kit stayed in his place, Neil pushed himself away from the couch without another word and went to go and get changed.

“If you really think that I was trying to kill myself, Andrew. Do you think that I would be standing here right now?” Kit asked, looking down.

Andrew raised an eyebrow as he looked toward Kit. “No.”

“You are right, I wouldn’t be. I know that this sounds stupid to you, Andrew, but playing Exy and fighting for my brother actually gives me a reason.” Kit admitted. “Being on that court, being able to change the whole outcome of the game, being able to be someone else. Someone that wasnʻt nothing, that wasnʻt living on borrowed time, someone, someone who has a reason. Thatʻs why I play. To feel like I actually have some form of control over something in my life.” Kit paused for a moment and looked down at his arms. “Being able to control something that is going on with or to me is what makes me feel real. Everything else just seems like a delusion.”

Andrew didnʻt say a word as he looked at Kitʻs face, trying to get a tell on something, but as far as he could tell, Kit was telling the truth. Andrew just watched as Kit got up and walked away to the court, he wondered for a moment what happened in the locker room but didnʻt think anything about it.

Kit got onto the court quicker than Neil did, but the both of them still got scolded for their tardiness. Being scolded like this just put Kit into a worse mood, even though he was here to train and push himself, that didnʻt stop him from being difficult for Kevin when they started doing their drills.

Kit knew where his limits were, he pushed them when parts of his body didnʻt feel like it was on fire but slowed down and went at a comfortable pace when they did, he knew that he was going to feel it in the morning but thatʻs what he was going for. Neil on the other hand went all out, pushed as hard and as fast as he could. Feeling completely worn out and numb didnʻt do anything to stop Kit being upset with Kevin. He and Neil walked off of the court feeling less frustrated and more sore, but both of them knew that the pain that they were going to feel the next morning was all going to be worth it.

That lethargic peace lasted up until the brothersʻ left the showers and found Kevin sitting on one of the benches in the changing room. The authoritative look on his face told that he wasnʻt waiting out of courtesy.

“Did one of you fix it?” Kevin asked.

“Fix what?” Neil asked in return.

“Donʻt act like an imbecile. If you are here, I expect you to be here,” he said, putting an emphasis on that last word. “The second that your problems with Andrew interfere with our game, they become our problems. Do you want us to win or donʻt you?”

“This is just as much of an us problem as it is yours, Kevin,” Kit said. “You do not need to go lecturing us on what is at stake, we know.”

“This isn’t my problem, this is between the three of you,” Kevin said, moving his hand around in a circle, referring to Andrew, Neil and Kit.

“Oh no, Kevin, if it’s Andrew’s problem, it’s yours too,” Kit said. “Face it that you are part of this as well and stop denying that you are. You should have said something.”

Neil looked between Kevin and Kit, a little confused as to what he had missed. But he took a step forward and put his hands up. “Kevin, we were two minutes late because Kit tired helping me convince Andrew to come and practice with us.”

“You both were five, and don’t ask him again. We don’t need him there as a favour to us. He has to come on its own free will or doesn’t mean a thing.” Kevin got up and sharply motioned for Neil and Kit to follow. “We’re leaving now.”

They collected Andrew from the lounge on their way out and split up in the hallway. Matt was already asleep, but he left his desk lamp on so the brothers could find their way around. Both Neil and Kit changed out in the dim lighting. Kit noticed Neil pause when he wanted to turn off the light, he went over to see a note taped to the light switch. 

“You both were right,” it said.

Kit just moved on after reading it. There was really no point in trying to think about what it meant when they had to be up in less than five hours, so he pushed all of his thoughts aside and willed himself to sleep. It seems like a split second ago he closed his eyes to go to sleep, but the next second Neil’s alarm was going off. Kit groaned as he sat up, rolling his shoulder out. He knew that he would have to take it easy at practice today if he didnʻt want Wymack to force him off of the court.

Matt had his shoes on before he was awake enough to talk. He went still with the knots half done when he looked up to Neil and Kit. “You were both right. They made a promise. Aaron and Andrew, I mean. Thatʻs what Aaron told Katelyn, anyway. Aaron cut a deal with Andrew at juvie: if Andrew stuck with him until graduation, Aaron would stick with Andrew. No friends, no girlfriends, nothing. Aaron couldnʻt even socialize with his teammates.”

Kit paused in his position on the floor and looked at Matt. He went back to making sure that the bandage on his cheek was on properly. Neil was the one who spoke up. “Aaron would have meant high school graduation. They renewed it when they signed a contract to play here.”

“Now Katelynʻs in the picture, Aaron wonʻt fight for her.” Matt shook his head as he finished tying his shoes. “Katelyn told Dan what Andrew did to Aaronʻs high school exes. If Katelynʻs not afraid of Andrew, sheʻs not safe from him. Is Andrew really that crazy that heʻd lash out against someone so important to Aaron?”

Kit paused for a moment, picking his next words carefully. “Aaron made a promise to Andrew,” Kit said. “Andrew will make sure that he keeps it even to the bitter end of it all. Itʻs not as crazy as it sounds.”

Kit almost forgot how blind the rest of the team were to the twinsʻ issues. It wasnʻt until the second trip to Columbia that the cold war between the both of them became painfully obvious. Katelynʻs importance to Aaron was the thing that put her in danger. If Aaron wasnʻt willing to fight for her, if it was because he was too afraid to stand up to his brother or that he actually thought that he had more to gain from following along with the deal.

Kit didnʻt know why Andrew agreed or even suggested to extend their deal. Was he still trying to get back at Aaron for siding and mourning over his mother, was he worried about another woman hurting Aaron like their mother did, or did he think that time would make a difference to their damaged relationship? Kit was inclined to believe the last. When Drake left Andrew a bloody and shaking wreck in Columbia, the only thing that mattered to Andrew, the only person that he needed to see and make sure was okay, was Aaron. His own trauma was pushed to the side; all that he cared about was the blood splattered across Aaronʻs skin. He put his brother over his own well being. Andrew didnʻt care what happened to him, only that Aaron was safe.

Andrew and Aaron had done this to each other, and they were locked in a stalemate. They were both unwilling to reach out and to let go. November should have been the catalyst, but Aaronʻs arrest and Andrewʻs exile to Easthaven meant that they had to recover from that nightmare away from each other. Andrew had been back for a week, and Kit could be sure that neither of them had brought up that night, same as they had never talked through the reasons behind Tilda Minyardʻs death.

Aaron would ignore Kit if he went to even bring any of this up and Kit wasnʻt willing to give up any big secrets to get Andrew to make the first move and reach out to Aaron. Kevin wouldnʻt even think about getting involved and Andrew would just brush Nicky off like he was nothing even if he tried. Wymack had promised to stay out of their personal problems, though heʻd toed the line the other day for the sake of his teamʻs safety. Renee would be able to hold Andrewʻs attention long enough to plant the idea of reconciliation, but Aaron wouldnʻt even listen to a word that she had to say. 

Kitʻs thoughts hit a brick wall. He was thinking too much about all of this, it was starting to get too personal for his liking. He didnʻt want to get overly involved especially when it got to being every personal between the brothers. He had a sound understanding of both sides of the cold war. Even though Aaronʻs mother was abusive, he still had some hope that she would come around and change, to be a proper mother instead of the person that she made herself out to be, or maybe he always thought of her as a good mother in the way that whenever she hurt him that it was just a mistake and her forgetting about it meant that she was sorry. Andrew never had a family, going from shitty home to shitty home, but once he found Aaron and Tilda, he vowed to himself to stop her from hurting his brother no matter the costs and no matter how hard he tired he couldnʻt make Aaron see that she wasnʻt going to change her ways. It was all a double edged sword and neither of them were willing to make the first move.

“Kit?”

Kit flinched back a little bit and turned to Neil who was waving his hand in front of his face. Kit looked over to the bedroom door to see Matt standing there, waiting for them. Kit didnʻt even notice when Matt got up and left the room. Matt looked a bit perplexed to find both Neil and Kit right where heʻd left them.

“You two good? We gotta go.”

If both Neil and Kit were late to practice twice in a row Kevin would probably bench both of them out of spite. Kit got up, grabbing his keys from their spot on his bed. 

“I’m good. Did Dan give you Aaron’s new tutor schedule?” When Matt nodded, Neil continued, “I changed my mind. Kit and I will deal with him. I have an idea.”

Kit frowned as he made his way out to the bedroom, Neil didn’t tell him about any plans and he definitely didn’t want to be getting too involved in any of their problems. But maybe helping Neil work things out would bring the team closer. Matt forwarded the text to Neil while he waited for Kit to lock the suite door behind them. Kit knew better than to ask questions when they were near the others, Nicky would be too noisy and try to figure out what was going on and being said.

They spent the whole of morning practice doing strength circuits at the gym. Kit and Neil rode back with Andrew’s lot but both of them stopped by the girls’ room to get their bruises touched up. Kit was looking and feeling better after being out of Riko’s hands for a week, but there was still a bit of bruising that would have to be covered up for a few more days. Kit sat there on Renee’s bed as she started working, none of the upperclassmen knew what he was hiding. 

“Renee,” Kit said, Renee stopped immediately and pulled her hands away. “Don’t freak out, okay?” Kit brought his hand up to his face, aiming for the corner of the tape. He scratched the corner up and pulled it off in one swift motion.

It took Renee half a second to realise what was tattooed onto his face. She was trying not to react but seeing how Kit looked, without the bruising, without the bandage and with the changes that happened when he came back from Edgar Allan, she flinched. “You- you look just like him.”

Kit frowned and looked down. “I did say that I looked like him when I was younger. I did everything in my power to not look like him, to not be compared to a dead boy,” Kit said, a hand going up and tracing the number on his cheek. “He tried to make us transfer to the Ravens. He told Neil and I that we could finish this year with the Foxes but we had to transfer to Edgar Allan in fall. I know that doesnʻt explain why I was given this number, I do not know myself. Maybe deep down Riko wishes that I was him, maybe it is just a fucked up way of coping?”

Renee listened to what Kit had to say, she knew that even though Kit looked like him, he wasnʻt. “I will not see you as any different from before the break to now, you are Kit Josten.”

Kit couldnʻt help but smile a little bit, he was glad that he showed Renee first. Now all he had to deal with was Dan and Allison. “Thank you, Renee.”

The silence was cut short by a shrill, “Are you kidding me!?”

Both Renee and Kit didnʻt think for a second and bolted out of the bedroom and to the living room, to see Dan on the couch where Allison was previously, grabbing Neilʻs chin and looking at the number on his cheek. 

“This is a joke, tell me itʻs a-” Dan started, before freezing up and turning to look at the hallway, where Kit and Renee were standing.

Dan couldnʻt see Kitʻs left cheek because of how he was standing, she was in front of him in a second, grabbing his cheeks with her hand. Kit wasnʻt expecting the sudden and harsh contact, he was too busy looking at Neil. Kit grabbed her wrist, twisting it at an awkward angle.

“Donʻt touch me,” Kit threatened. “Do it again and I will not hesitate to break your wrist.”

Dan looked at her wrist, being held in a shaky hand. “What the-” Her words were cut short when she finally got to see Kitʻs face. “Holy shit..” 

Allison stared at the two of them, it took her a moment to realize why Dan froze. Kit squeezed her wrist tighter before letting her go and walked over to Neil, seeing if he was okay, but both Dan and Allison were in shock.

Neil saw this moment of silence as a good time to explain why they had the tattoos. “He told us to transfer to the Ravens,” Neil said. “He said that we could finish this year with the Foxes but that weʻd move to Edgar Allan this fall. They inked the both of us in preparation and I couldn't stop them. I wanted you to know in case Riko says something about it. We are both still Foxes no matter what he says. We refused to sign his papers.”

“Well seeing that a missing kid came back, no wonder he was wanting to get his hands on you,” Allison said, still in a form of shock.

“Take them off,” Dan said.

“We canʻt,” Neil started.

“They are permanent,” Kit continued. “And this is why I dyed my hair and kept it long. I donʻt want to be compared to a dead kid.”

“Nothing’s permanent. Take it off. Matt will spot both of you the money.”

“He will or I will,” Alison said. “I don’t want to see either of you like that on my court. Kevin’s tramp stamp fouls the atmosphere enough. Especially not with the number you have on your face.”

“Kevin knew about this, didn’t he?” Dan said, incensed. “He knew that Riko was going to do this to both of you and he let you go anyway. The next time I see him-”

“You won’t do a goddamn thing,” Kit interrupted her. “Kevin had no right to stop either of us, we chose to go.”

“No, he let you go to Riko in his stead.”

“No,” Neil said. “Kevin didn’t factor into any of that. He knew that it wasn’t about him.”

Dan wasn’t expecting that. Confusion took the edge off of her anger. “You said Riko was trying to get to Kevin.”

“I said the Riko focused on us because of our relation to Kevin,” Kit said. “I never said that it was the reasoning behind us going.”

“I just thought that you deserved to know before the season kicks off,” Neil said.

Kit stood up and waited for Neil to do the same, Dan was by their sides in a second. She grabbed Neil’s elbow, only to have Kit pull her hand off of Neil. Neil just stared at Dan as she looked down at the hand holding her wrist. It was a silent minute before she spoke.

“Neither of you had any plans to go home for Christmas, did you? The whole mess about your uncle flying to Arizona – you made that up so we wouldn’t ask too many questions or wonder why you weren’t going to New York with Kevin.”

There was no point in lying anymore. “Yeah I did,” Neil said.

“I get that you both don’t trust us completely,” Dan said. “I don’t like it, but I think we’ve been pretty good working around that all year. We haven’t pushed either of you to give us more than you’re willing to or comfortable with and we haven’t asked why you’re like this. So don’t do this to us, don't sit here and lie to our faces.” She finally looked away from her wrist up to the brothers’ faces, frustration pulling hard at the corner of her mouth. “We're your friends. We deserve better than that.”

“If you got what you deserved, you wouldn’t be a Fox.” Neil tugged on Kit’s jacket, letting him know that he was okay and that he didnʻt need to hold and hurt Dan like that. 

“Neither of us have ever had friends before,” Kit said. “And I have never dealt with people like this. Neil and I are trying, but it's going to take a fair bit of time. And as long as you can remember not to touch me or Neil like that again, we will be on alright terms.”

Time was something that neither of them had, but that was something not worth mentioning. Dan accepted the botched apology, promise and threat with a weary nod, and the girls let them leave in peace. Neil and Kit went back to their dorm, putting on new bandaids over their tattoos. They both had a bit of time to kill before their classes, so Neil went and sat at his desk while Kit went to his. Kit tried to focus on his English notes, but he couldnʻt, so he kept flicking through different books until it was time to go.

Kit didnʻt know what Neil was planning until it got to lunchtime, they were on their way to the cafeteria when Neil texted Dan. Getting both Katelyn and the Shrinkʻs number. Neil explained that he was going to try and get Katelyn onto their side in trying to get Aaron to fight for her, to finally tell Andrew what he wants and to try and get him to talk about anything. Kit didnʻt really know if it was the best idea, seeing that he would be pinning one of the only people that Aaron fully trusted against him until he folds to someone else's wishes.

Kit didnʻt say anything against Neilʻs plan though, wanting to stick around and help Neil where or if he needed it. During their break Neil texted Katelyn back and forth, trying to find a time when they could meet today. Kit was a little busy trying to work out some maths problems, only to hear Neil complain that they would have to put off meeting her until tomorrow.

That afternoon Neil got the missing information that he needed: even though Andrew was off of his drugs, he still had weekly sessions with Betsy. Neil knew what time Andrewʻs sessions started and assumed that Betsy would have a small window with no patients before Andrew showed up at her door. As soon as Neil knew Andrew was on his way to Reddin, Kit grabbed his shoulder gently to try and calm his nerves.

“Itʻs Neil,” Neil said, before quickly following up with, “I need a yes or no. If we can talk Aaron into doing a joint session with Andrew, can you fix them?”

The frown on Neilʻs face told Kit that she didnʻt give a simple yes or no. But Kit knew that the question that Neil asked wasnʻt a simple yes or no question.

“Donʻt try,” Neil said. “Donʻt guess. This is too important. Can you or canʻt you?”

The frown on Neilʻs lips faded, telling Kit that he got the answer he was looking for. But the way that he hung up on her also told him that she might have said something out of line.

-

It was too early in the year for the library to be crowded, so Neil and Kit had no trouble finding Katelyn. An oversized cup of coffee sat by her elbow and Kit was tempted to go and get something to eat from the cafe. But he didnʻt want to look like he was staying long, so he followed Neil down the aisle to her table without stopping. A biochem textbook was pushed off to one side as she worked on highlighting parts of her notes. Aaron had the same textbook in his room, as he was studying biological sciences. Kit wondered if their overlapping classes and similar majors was how they actually met each other outside of games.

Katelyn looked up at their approach, pausing for a moment before she flipped her notebook closed. “Neil, Kit, hello! I knew that itʻs only been a few weeks but it honestly feels like forever. How was Christmas break for you two?”

“It was fine,” Neil answered, Kit nodded along to his answer. “How was yours?”

“Oh my gosh, amazing.” Kately clasped her hands with glee. “My sister finally found out that sheʻs going to have a boy, so I spent most of my break buying things for him. Mom told me that I was going overboard but I know that she is just as excited as me.”

Katelyn had told the Foxes last month that her sister was pregnant, Kit didnʻt really remember any of the details. Kit looked around at everything and anything else, trying to get his mind to find something interesting to look at, trying to hold on and listen to the important words that were strung between the overly excited words that she was rambing on with. It didnʻt take her long to remember that they werenʻt here to catch-up, and she pulled herself together with a smile that was as sheepish as it was happy.

“So what is this about?” Katelyn asked. “You said that you wanted to talk about Aaron?”

“Aaron needs help,” Neil said. “And we are both trying to get him some.”

Katelyn straightened up in a heartbeat. “Heʻs having nightmares again, isnʻt he? He said that he was doing better. He promised that-” Katelyn gestured, in helplessness or frustration, and pressed her fingers to her trembling lower lip.

“Nightmares,” Neil echoed.

Kit didnʻt really know where Neil wanted the conversation to go, but he knew that this wasnʻt the turn that he was hoping for. It didnʻt take much thinking to have a hot guess on what was tearing him up. “About November, right?”

“He doesnʻt want it to bother him,” Katelyn said. “He says that Drake deserved worse than what he got. He says heʻs glad that he did it. But wanting someone dead and actually being the one to kill him are two very different things. Iʻm willing to listen to him, and I want to do everything I can to help, but he doesnʻt hear me out when I tell him it's okay.”

“He needs to talk to Andrew,” Neil said.

Katelyn gave a choked laugh. “He wonʻt.”

Katelyn knew what the upperclassmen didnʻt; that Aaron and Andrew could barely stand the sight of each other on a good day. Maybe she needed to know, since it was their fight that was keeping her and Aaron apart. Kit knew that if Aaron didnʻt fight for her, their relationship wouldnʻt last too much longer, which was a shame seeing how much they both loved each other.

“Aaron has to,” Kit repeated. “It might be hard to believe, but they both need each other. But neither of them know how to make the first step.”

“And thatʻs where you come in,” Neil finished.

Katelyn searched their faces for a minute, then said, “Why?”

“Why you?” Neil asked.

“Why you, why the both of you,” she corrected him. “Aaron isnʻt..”

She was too nice to actually say it, but Kit didnʻt have a problem filling in the blanks, and neither did Neil.

“Aaron, Kit and I get along when we need to and avoid each other when we can. Iʻm not going to lie and say that I am doing this for his sake. I really donʻt care whether heʻs okay in the long run. I only care about the team. We canʻt win without them. Does it really matter why I am doing this, as long as everyone walks away happy in the end, right?”

“It matters to me,” Katelyn said. “I love him.”

“So help me, help him,” Neil said.

Katelyn pressed her lips into a thin line as she debated, her gaze switching between the brothers. “Iʻm listening.”

“Has Aaron ever spoken to you about Dr. Dobson?” Neil asked. “Sheʻs the go-to shrink for our team and she works at Reddin. Sheʻs willing to run group sessions with Andrew and Aaron.”

“Aaron has mentioned her before. He said that sheʻs a waste of time.”

“He thinks that because heʻs not using her properly,” Neil said, earning a nod from Kit. Both of the brothers ignored the hypocrisy in the accusation. “Luckily it doesnʻt matter what Aaron thinks. Dobsonʻs seen both of them. Sheʻs treated Andrew for a year and a half now. If she honestly thought that she couldnʻt reconcile them she would have said so. If we can get both of them in her office at the same time, she can make them talk to each other.”

“You want me to talk him into it,” Katelyn concluded.

“You convince Aaron. Kit and I will convince Andrew.” Neil answered.

“Do the both of you really think that you can?”

“We have to,” Neil said.

“But how?” Katelyn pressed. “Iʻm asking honestly, because I donʻt know where I would even start. He didnʻt listen to me last time I told him to get help.”

“Donʻt go making all of this about him,” Kit said, finally speaking up. He knew that it was wrong but in the end, if she doesnʻt speak up, the only people that it is going to hurt is Katelyn and Aaron. “Make this about you. Make this about your relationship. You are the one that can fix this right here, right now. Stop being collateral damage and make him fight for you and your relationship because we all know that he isnʻt going to if you donʻt push him.”

“I donʻt think that I could use ʻusʻ against him. That isnʻt fair.”

“But you being pushed to the side lines, feeling like you are forgotten and sneaking around is? You need to think about what you want in your relationship with him. I saw how much happier you were when Andrew wasnʻt here because you actually got to spend time with Aaron that wasnʻt all a big game of hide and seek from his brother. Make him fight for you, because if you donʻt the only person that is going to end up hurt is you.”

Kit got up and left after that, Neil wasnʻt too far behind him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Afternoon everyone! I hope that you liked this chapter today and the next one is going to be out soon enough.
> 
> Thank you to everyone that has stuck around this long to read these chapters

**Author's Note:**

> Hello all! Welcome back to the storyyyyyyyy!
> 
> Please comment if you would like too!


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